Heart of Shadow
by UnspeakableHorror
Summary: While on a routine mission to recover secrets from the reclusive Nightsisters, Sidious is tricked by Mother Talzin into accepting a power even he may not be able to handle. When Darth Plagueis becomes infected with it as well, the Sith Order spins into disarray. But Sith do not give up easily, even if their Grand Plan may require some-recalibration.
1. Trickery

A/N: For a while now, I've become rather frustrated by the relative lack of Sidious redemption fanfic. To be sure, there are a few, but they are so few, and so far in-between that I feel there is an immense gulf of unexplored possibilities in this space. So this AU kind of spiralled out of that. Also a very special shout-out to my lack of self-control! Because I couldn't have started an entirely new fic of indeterminate length without that, right? This is also a very Sith-centric story, so if you like Plagueis or Maul, they will feature here quite prominently as well. San Hill will appear too from time to time, too, since I must admit he's one of my favorite characters. Also, while I will reuse some concepts from my fanfic Cut Strings, this story should be considered as taking place in an entirely separate continuity. And though the Sidious of this story may start out quite similar in temperament to the one in Cut Strings, he will develop in ways that I assure you will be quite unlike his counterpart in that story.

Furthermore, I must of course ruin this story with one of my entirely unnecessary romances, in this case between Talzin and Sidious. It's kind of a rare pair, it seems, but I for one see quite a lot of potential in it!

The writing is still a bit rough around the edges, I feel, but I was rather impatient to get it out. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story, and I'd be most interested to hear your thoughts!

EDIT: Jun 6, 2017: I've added considerably more detail to the flashback scene in the first chapter. Many thanks to SLWalker, who is currently beta-reading this story, for pointing out that this scene could be improved by fleshing it out more, and for beta-reading the additions as well!

EDIT: Jul 22, 2017: Just wanted to mention that the flashback scene in the first chapter is in my opinion one of the darkest, most emotionally intense scenes in the story written thus far (up to ch 11). Also, a relative of mine who heard it found that scene to be super dark, so that kind of prompted me to get around to warning for it. I am not consistent or organized about warning for content, but I will occasionally do so.

* * *

Palpatine hit the ground, emitting a hiss of pain and anger. This was a lot more difficult than his Master had made it out to be. _Just subdue a few witches and retrieve their secrets. Should be easy. Easy. Hah._

The Nightsister hovered closer to him, a look of interest on her face, as if examining an unusual insect. He took the opportunity to jump to his feet, lashing out with his lightsaber.

He recoiled as the red saber hit something unyielding. Staggering backwards, he looked between the saber and the Nightsister in bewilderment.

She currently floated serenely inside a green bubble of Force energy, some bizarre conglomeration of Dark and Light powering the thing.

"You have so much power," she mused. "And yet you limit yourself just as much as your foolish Jedi foes do."

"And you weaken yourself with your use of the Light Side," Palpatine scoffed. He held his lightsaber in a defensive pose now, though he didn't think it was going to be of much use against Talzin.

"You admit it then," she said, sounding intrigued. "You choose to reduce your abilities."

"Hardly a reduction," Palpatine said. "Perhaps you are projecting your own diminishment of talent."

She laughed. "I see. Of course. That's why I'm losing." She put a hand to her chin, appearing to ponder the situation. "Wait, I don't believe I am."

"You only think you've won."

"Oh, you are an amusing one, Sidious. We don't get many outsiders, Sith Lord. And our men are so-obedient. They know their place. It gets a bit boring after a while. So it's quite a treat to have met you twice."

"I won't say the same. I liked you better the first time," he said, grimacing as an attempt to attack her with Force lightning recoiled from that accursed green bubble of hers and rebounded back onto himself. He stopped the attack immediately.

Talzin laughed again. "You mean when I was still half-dead from childbirth? Still a lowly servant to my own mother? Don't you enjoy the thrill of battle with a worthy opponent?"

"I would hardly call this a battle," Sidious said, "when all you've done is float around in that Force shield of yours."

"I disagree. This has been truly an invigorating experience. You are like an irascible, untamable rancor."

Sidious narrowed his acid-yellow eyes. "I don't think you are taking this seriously."

Talzin floated closer to him. "On the contrary, I am entirely serious. In fact, I'd like to offer you something-a rare gift."

Sidious tilted his head. "Is this another child? I don't have need of it. The last one was perfectly sufficient."

"By the Twins, no," Talzin responded. "But that reminds me-how is my dear Maul doing?"

"He is in good health. One day he will be a powerful Sith," Sidious said. The child was currently being cared for by Palpatine's caretaker droids. He had seen Maul a total of two times to confirm that he was growing sufficiently, but of course it wouldn't be possible to begin his Sith training until he was older.

"Good," she said. "I'll accept only the best for my firstborn."

"You mentioned a gift," Sidious said, curious now what she had meant by that.

"Ah, yes," Talzin said. "You came to steal our secrets, did you not? So I thought I might freely offer you one instead."

"All right, you have my attention."

She beckoned him with one languid hand, and began floating backwards. Palpatine followed in anticipation. Soon they reached a dark pool of reflective black liquid. Palpatine could feel that this place was not simply an ordinary pond, but a true Dark Side nexus. She gestured, and he stared at it, transfixed. "What is this?"

"We call it a Font of Power," she said. "They are unique to Dathomir. When you drink from this one, you consume pure Dark Side power. The effects are permanent."

Sidious frowned. "What's the catch?" Her words rang true. His senses told him this place was one of power, and furthermore, power that could be taken. But nothing could possibly be this easy.

Talzin's expression became one of mock seriousness. She put a hand to her breast. "You'll feel things. Emotions are evil."

Sidious smiled wryly. "A passable imitation of a Jedi."

"Oh, that wasn't a Jedi. That was a Light Witch."

"They sound pathetic."

"They are."

Sidious looked back at the black pond. "Do I simply-drink it?"

"Yes, that's the idea."

Sidious walked over to the pool and knelt at its side. He hesitated. This could be a trick for Talzin's amusement. But-the power was real. And if there was one thing Sidious would never refuse, it was power. He cupped his hands in the pool and drank.

And felt the Dark Side grow within him. After that, he drank more of the liquid, and more, until he found he couldn't bring himself to drink another drop. "Why can't I-?"

"The Font will only allow any one person so much of itself. I confess I was surprised to see that you were allowed as much as you were."

He stood, feeling invigorated. He turned to Talzin, a cruel grin forming on his face. "Perhaps we should have a rematch."

To Palpatine's surprise, Talzin dismissed her Force-shield and walked closer to him. "Are you sure that's what you really desire?"

"Of course that's what I wa-" he began, then stopped as she stood directly in front of him. She really was-quite fascinating. He took a step backwards, surprised by the intensity of his traitorous thoughts. He looked over to the pool, then back over to Talzin, his eyes narrowing. "There's something you didn't tell me."

Talzin laughed. "You catch on quickly! I did not lie, though. It is a Font of Dark Side Power. It is called the Font of Love."

"Love?!" Palpatine hissed. "I have no use for that."

Talzin floated away, laughing cruelly. "It's too late for second thoughts now, Sidious. Anyway, you should thank me. It _will_ make you more powerful."

Palpatine frowned, glancing at the dark pond. He had felt the raw power of the place. It was, undoubtedly, a Dark Side nexus. But-love? "Gratitude is not the way of the Sith, Talzin. Anyway, you did trick me. You should thank me for not blasting you out of existence."

Talzin smiled. "I thought you said that's exactly what you were about to do. Have you changed your mind?"

Sidious crossed his arms. "That remains to be seen. Your _gift_ was tainted. But perhaps you have something else to offer me? An item of power? A spell? I might allow you to live if there is some benefit to me."

Talzin shook her head. "Tsk, tsk. So ungrateful. Still, I have many things to offer. But there will be no more gifts. I will offer further knowledge, further power, for exchange only. That is the way of the Nightsisters."

"Do you think me incapable of further hostility? Do not mistake my deliberation for mercy. Your attempt to bind me to your service has failed," he sneered.

"Bind you to my-?" Talzin stopped, seeming to realize something. Then she laughed. "Oh, no. Oh, how tacky that would be. How pedestrian. No, Sidious, that was not some simple love potion, as a simpleton might concoct to create a doting thrall. There is no thrill in that, and I daresay you are too powerful to be affected by such a thing."

"Then what is it, and why did you trick me into consuming it?"

Talzin floated onto a tree branch and settled there. "There is a beauty to nature, don't you think?"

"Answer the question, Talzin."

"Life. Death. A cycle. There is chaos, and order. Order within the chaos, and chaos within order."

"Don't try my patience, Talzin."

"The Sith are a threat to the Nightsisters, Sidious. It is my duty to destroy such threats."

"And yet here I stand."

"Yes. Because we could be allies, Sidious. But only if the Sith are capable of caring about something besides their own personal gain."

"Love is weakness."

"I think that you already know that not to be true."

"You have hobbled me. But it matters not. If I am truly ruined by this, my Master will simply destroy me and choose another apprentice. The Sith will continue."

"Is that what you want, Sidious? Are you ready to die?"

"I said _if_. Plagueis is more knowledgeable about the Living Force than you imagine. I daresay he will know a way to reverse this." Palpatine walked back over to the pond and knelt again at it. He pulled a flask off of his belt and filled it with the liquid. Curious, he brought it to his lips. But he was unable to drink any more of it still.

Talzin laughed. "You surely seem eager to consume more of that which has _hobbled_ you."

"I don't see how it can do any further harm," Sidious retorted. And there was real power in the liquid. Perhaps that power could be separated from the-unfortunate side effects. Surely Plagueis would know how it could be done. He would bring the liquid to his Master for examination.

The Sith would certainly not be defeated by some jumped-up primitives from a nowhere backwater like Dathomir.

* * *

Plagueis had warned Sidious that his channels were not currently secure, and he should contact his Master only in his guise as Palpatine.

But he had not warned Sidious about this.

"Oh, hello," the teenage Muun said pleasantly, swivelling back and forth in his chair. "You're that Ambassador from Naboo, right? Sheev Palpatine?"

"Why yes." Palpatine said, his face a kindly mask, all the while wondering why a _child_ was answering his Master's comm line. "And who might you be?"

"San Hill," the Muun said.

"It's nice to meet you, San. May I speak with Magister Damask?"

"No," the Muun teen said cheerfully. "He's _busy_. But I can take a message if you'd like."

Sidious took a deep breath. "This is really quite urgent."

"You don't understand," San said. "My Uncle is doing an experiment. Those are very important to him. He would, and I quote, 'flay alive and leave to be eaten by jarrel wolves anyone who interrupts him now'."

"I see," Sidious said. "In that case, please tell him that the Ambassador of Naboo wishes to discuss those important matters which we earlier discussed. It's quite urgent. Please let him know as soon as possible."

"Sure thing, ambassador man." San said and then cut the connection.

Sidious scowled at the empty screen. Of course he was familiar with Damask's assistant Larsh Hill. But he could conceive of no reason why that assistant's progeny should be allowed access to his Master's comm lines. _This is very inconvenient._

Still, Sidious also knew better than to interrupt Plagueis during his experiments. He wished Plagueis would use droids to take his messages, though, and not the unreliable creature he'd been presented with.

Sidious sighed, leaning back in his chair as he slipped into hyperspace. He would travel directly to Sojourn and return to his Master as soon as possible.

For now, though, he would meditate on his situation, try to find the root of the rot that Talzin had infected him with.

He had always known he was different. Better than everyone else, really. He didn't form attachments like others did. Not even to his own family.

He closed his eyes, recalling his father's screams of pain as he died, savoring the memory.

 _That wasn't so bad. Perhaps the effects are not_ -

Then came a stab of anguish as he recalled his mother.

 _"Oh, open it already!" his mother said._

 _Palpatine squeezed the wrapping paper. "One part brick, two parts squish," the teen boy said. "This is another sweater-book combo, isn't it?" He gave her a disappointed look. "What is it this time? The_ third _book of Jedi Sage? I told you I hate that entire saccharine series. I would murder the author myself if I could get my hands on him."_

 _"I think you'll like this one," she said. "Better than the last two, anyway."_

 _He sighed and ripped the silvery paper open._

 _"A blue sweater!" he said with mock excitement. He noted the bit of gold lettering near the fold. "I'm sure I'll have many occasions to wear a sweater that says-" he opened it all the way out, letting the object inside drop without so much as a glance, "-Pal."_

 _His mother smiled. "Your name, right?"_

 _"You're missing a few letters, mother," he said, but smiled back. He looked down at the book, then, and noting the unusually weathered cover, picked it up, examining it with sudden interest. "This is-Artifact 204." Which was written in an indecipherable language that Palpatine was positive was Sith._

 _"Yes, I saw how you looked at that thing at the auction before Cosinga made you leave."_

 _"How did you get this?" Palpatine asked, turning it over in his hand. His father certainly hadn't given her the money for it._

 _"You know my friend Vera, right?"_

 _"I don't know any of your friends."_

 _"Oh, of course. Anyway, she bid on it for me. I told her I was interested in it."_

 _"Thanks, mother. This is possibly the best thing I've ever received."_

 _He didn't think his mother had ever looked happier._

She had cared for him so much, and he had always been her favorite. Even at the end.

 _His mother, staring between him and the charred husk that had been his father in shock. "Pal?"_

 _He narrowed his eyes at her. "You've missed a few letters, Mother."_

 _Lightning crackled from his fingertips, and she screamed, trying to plead with him, trying to reach out to him, until her heart finally gave out and she grew still._

 _He scowled down at her. "Pathetic."_

Palpatine tried to calm his breathing, but then the next memory came. No, no, not Ricar. He didn't want-

 _Ricar walked up to him and held a smooth stone out. "This is yours."_

 _He looked down at his four year-old brother's mop of tousled brown hair. The odd one out, Ricar didn't look much like his father at all. He wondered about that sometimes._

 _"I've never even seen that thing before."_

 _"I'm giving it to you. You're the rock."_

 _Palpatine was fairly certain he had been a lot smarter than Ricar at that age._

 _"And why am I a rock?"_

 _"Because you're strong," Ricar said. "Take it. It's a lucky rock."_

 _Palpatine accepted the odd gift. "All right. But I don't believe in luck."_

 _Ricar gave him a wide smile and ran off. Palpatine watched with curiosity as he noticed Ricar stop next to a trash bin and pick up a shard of glass._

And if I were a good brother, I would tell him he shouldn't play with glass shards or trash. But let's see where this train of thought leads little Ricar, shall we?

 _His brother then made a straight beeline to his parents._

 _"Pa!" he cried out. "I have a present for you!"_

 _Palpatine grinned. Perhaps despite his lack of intelligence, Ricar had some redeeming qualities after all._

Palpatine was having trouble breathing.

 _Ricar, crying over his mother's still form while Palpatine simply stood there, feeling nothing until the boy's cries began to irritate him. He felt the power inside him reach out and saw it snap the boy's neck. Ricar's body fell over his mother's._

Palpatine closed his eyes. But that only seemed to increase the clarity of the memories.

 _"Let's play a game!" Mayelle said._

 _"Let's not," Palpatine said, attempting to nap on the sofa._

 _Ignoring his response, the child dropped something on the table in front of him with a loud thud. "You'll like this one."_

 _"Is it called 'murder noisy siblings so I can sleep'?" Palpatine asked curtly._

 _"Nope," she said. "It's called dejarik." Palpatine opened one eye, glaring at the tiny girl with her red hair in a ponytail._

 _"You're way too young for that."_

 _"I'm eight. You can't tell me what to do."_

 _He opened the other eye in resignation._

 _"No, I mean I'd destroy you. It's a strategy game, May. And you have all the strategic ability of a Gungan."_

 _"Mil would be mad at you for saying that. She says the Gungans are smart."_

 _"Yes, she would say that. But perhaps she wouldn't say the same for you?"_

 _Mayelle stamped a foot. "Are you going to play the game with me or not?"_

 _"Not," Palpatine said._

 _"Bet you're just afraid you'd lose."_

 _"Would not."_

 _"Would too."_

 _"Would not."_

 _"Would too."_

 _"Fine, I'll play. It's surely better than exchanging what passes for witty repartee with you."_

 _"Whoohoo!" she exclaimed._

She'd eventually become quite good at it, of course, so good in fact that she'd even beaten him.

 _Mayelle screaming and screaming until he broke her neck, too. He bent down over her wide-eyed, still form and pulled the award ribbon off her dress. The Aurebesh read 'Junior Dejarik League, 1st Place'._

 _"Looks like I win this one, sis," he said, his voice almost monotone, cold and uncaring._

There was a sound issuing forth from Palpatine's throat now, a strangled croak. He couldn't seem to control it. He wasn't ready for this, but still the memories came pouring forth.

 _"I need some advice," Markon said._

 _"Sure. Go away. There's my advice."_

 _"How do I talk to girls?"_

 _"You must be joking."_

 _"No, really." Markon insisted._

 _"Go ask Mil."_

 _"No way. She'd just tell me not to and laugh in my face."_

 _"Sounds like good advice!" Palpatine laughed._

 _"Come on! I don't know what to say!"_

 _Palpatine pretended to ponder the question. "First I need to know what your end goal is."_

 _"What do you think? Dating. Doing it."_

 _"Oh, that's simple then. You're way too young for that."_

 _"I'm 13 years old!"_

 _"Which explains why you're asking your celibate virgin brother for dating advice. That sort of thing means nothing to me."_

 _Markon gave him a surprised look._

 _"Only girls are virgins."_

 _"I want you to think really hard, Markon, about why what you said cannot possibly be true."_

 _Markon frowned. "If you're a virgin, it means you haven't done it yet. Which means-I'm a virgin."_

 _"Congratulations, you figured it out! I promise I wouldn't have explained it to you if you hadn't."_

 _"But you! You must have done it with hundreds of girls! You go to all those parties. The ones you're not supposed to." he said the last part in almost a whisper._

 _Yes, of course he did. It was the perfect chance to collect blackmail on his fellow political proteges._

 _He smiled at his younger brother. "There's more to life than the fleeting affections of mayflies, Markon. But if you'd like, I can get you into some of those forbidden parties."_

 _Markon's eyes widened. "Really?"_

 _"Of course. What else are older and entirely irresponsible brothers for?"_

Those had been some fun times, corrupting his father's favorite. He'd also come to realize that Markon looked up to him, almost worshiped him really, and he'd-liked that. He really should have-

 _Slowly he choked Markon, the favorite of his father. Of course he had to die, no matter how much he had begged, promised he wouldn't tell. Everything his father loved must be destroyed._

He put his head in his hands. It would be over soon. It would be-done.

 _"Hey, I need you to sign this petition for-"_

 _"Go away, Mil," Palpatine said, laying in the grass turning the pages of Artifact 204. What did it say? No one seemed to know how to translate Sith. Probably because those greedy Jedi hoarders-_

 _"Oh, come on, Cos."_

 _"Don't call me that. I changed my name almost a year ago."_

 _"And you didn't tell me?"_

 _"Inconveniently, you attend an all girl's school."_

 _"Yeah, and you never call. Or write. What did you change it to?"_

 _"Just call me Palpatine."_

 _"Don't be ridiculous," she scoffed. "That's my name too. We're_ all _Palpatine."_

 _"Fine. Call me whatever you want, then. Just-not his name."_

 _"Okay. Sign my petition, then, Sheev."_

 _Palpatine closed the book and looked up at his teen sister. Her red hair was tied back in some elaborate style, and she wore a simple red dress. Her hands were on her hips, clutching a datapad in one and a pen in the other._

 _"Sheev. Sheev?" He raised an eyebrow._

 _She lidded her eyes. "Yeah. You look like a Sheev."_

 _He snorted. "Because that's the name of someone who's going far in life, right?"_

 _"Maybe it's the name of someone who won't sign my petition."_

 _Palpatine grabbed the datapad and read the heading. "Petition for Naboo Withdrawal From Northeastern Gungan Lakes." He looked up at her. "And how exactly do I benefit from this?"_

 _Milena gave him a steely look. "It's Father's favorite fishing spot."_

 _Palpatine gave her his brightest smile. "Save the Gungans!" He took the pen from her and signed 'Sheev Palpatine' on the datapad._

It was too much. Excepting his father, he'd always had the most adversarial relationship with Mil, but then that made sense, didn't it? She'd always wanted to be a hero, helping the helpless, saving the day. Caring too much about everything. Still, much unlike his father, he hadn't ever hated her. In a way, she'd amused him. And now? Now she was twisting the knife in him worst of all. Which was fitting, he supposed.

 _"It's over Mil," Palpatine said calmly, pitching his voice loud enough to be heard in the other room. She'd locked him out, unsurprisingly. "It's just you and me now."_

 _"Stay away from me!" she screamed from behind the door._

 _"You know I can't do that, Mil."_

 _Frantic muttering from the other room and then a loud, "Kriff! Kriff! Kriff!"_

 _"Language, Mil," Palpatine said in that same dead voice._

 _A clattering noise from the other side of the door. Palpatine walked to the control console, searching his memory until the passcode came to him. He keyed in his father's override command for the door and it slid open._

 _The kitchens were in chaos. Shattered glasses and dishes lay on the counters and floors, and cabinets and drawers were opened seemingly at random._

 _And there was Milena, sinking to the floor and hugging her knees, a desperate horror on her face and tears streaming from her eyes._

 _"Don't do this, Sheev! Don't do this..."_

 _But the most interesting part of the tableau were the knives, perhaps thirty or forty of them floating above her in midair, and every single one of them aimed right at him. He stared at them, transfixed._

 _She looked up then and seemed to notice them at last._

 _"What are you-what are you doing with those knives?" she asked in almost a whisper._

 _He looked down at her, surprised._

 _"Those aren't mine," he said. He lashed out, then, with blast after blast of blue electricity, and one by one the knives fell to the ground like a metallic rain._

 _He stopped when the last knife clattered to the floor._

 _His sister lay in a heap on the tiles. He stared at her lifeless body in a kind of numb shock. Wasn't the hero supposed to win against the villain?_

 _Disgust rose in him, then. She was just as weak as the others. She was always trying to save everyone. But in the end, she couldn't even save herself._

Desperately, he tried the usual rationalization.

 _They were weak, and so I destroyed them. They_ -he could feel the tears that came to his eyes, unbidden. _No. No! I am over this. I conquered this long ago..._

But he hadn't, not really. That had been different. Bewilderment over the suddenness of it all. Fear of what would happen to him with his entire family dead, and him the killer. The worry that he could never truly control such raw power, and that it might at any moment destroy him as well. There had never been this feeling of complete and utter loss.

Sidious hoped his Master would cure him of this soon. It was unbearable. Intolerable. Worse than any physical or mental anguish he could recall ever feeling-and as a Sith Apprentice, he had felt plenty of both in his time. It was a gaping psychic wound and he knew that nothing he did, nothing he told himself, could make it go away.

 _You will pay dearly for this, Talzin,_ he thought, as he wept over the control console.


	2. An Unfortunate Setback

A/N: This chapter includes 100% more disgruntled Sith Lord content. Because the only thing better than one ruined Sith Lord is two of them!

* * *

"Master," Sidious said, kneeling before Plagueis.

"I welcome your return, Apprentice. San has told me that there was something you wished to convey to me. I take it this involves your recent trip to Dathomir?"

Internally, Palpatine seethed on hearing the Muun teen's name. Plagueis had not deigned to contact him back during the trip to Sojourn. Worse, every time he had contacted Plagueis, the same horrid little nonentity had answered, and Palpatine had been forced each time to give an equally vague response.  
Still, he had finally reached Sojourn itself and received a private audience with his Master, far away from the worthless scrap of a child who took his messages.

"Yes, Master," he responded.

"What secrets have you retrieved from the witches?"

"Only this," Sidious said, presenting the flask to Plagueis. The Muun Sith took the item and opened it, staring down at the contents.

"It is extremely dangerous," Sidious warned him.

"A poison?" Plagueis said, eyeing it with interest. "I can sense the Dark Side emanations from it. Most intriguing."

"No, my lord, not a poison. But-"

At that, Plagueis upended the flask's contents into his mouth.

"No! Stop!" Sidious said, but it was too late. Darth Plagueis had already consumed the entire flask to the last drop.

"Pity you didn't collect more," Plagueis said. "It was imbued with considerable Dark Side power. Power that is now mine."

Even now, Sidious felt a strange envy. He had actually planned to volunteer to drink the remaining liquid himself. He had thought it might help his Master understand the process through which it worked. And he still felt some strange desire for it, even as he despised and loathed it. "Yes, Master. I know. I myself drank some of the liquid already," he said slowly, trying not to panic. "But it also has an unacceptable side effect, which I was about to explain."

"You seem to be in good health, Sidious," Plagueis said. "What side effect could possibly be worth forgoing additional power?"

Sidious grimaced. "Love, Master. It compels you to feel love."

"Oh." Then Plagueis said something long and emphatic in the Muun language.

Sidious tilted his head. Had that been something about where someone could go cancel their inequalities? "I'm not familiar with that terminology, Master."

"Really? I thought you would know all the Muun curses by now."

Sidious felt relief. "So you understand the gravity of the situation, then."

Plagueis curled his lower lip in disgust and threw the flask behind him. "Yes, and I will resolve this-setback."

Sidious looked up at him hopefully. "So you know how to reverse it?"

"No," Plagueis said. "But I'm sure I can figure it out. If you bring me some more samples of the material to run the necessary experiments."

"As you wish, my lord." Sidious said, and rose. He allowed himself to feel optimism at his Master's confidence, though it mingled with his suspicion that the 'necessary

experiments' Plagueis mentioned might involve the Sith Master consuming more of the accursed liquid.

* * *

Sidious looked at the small nav computer he held in his hand. It told him that the Dark Side nexus was close now. Closer...closer...and walking past the tall grass, there it was.  
A small clearing containing a pond full of black water. But another knelt before the pond in front of him already.

"Talzin," he rasped.

She finished drinking the liquid cupped in her hands and turned to face him. "Back again so soon?" she asked, giving him an amused smile.

"So you sabotage yourself, too?"

"I'd hardly call it sabotage. Surely you can sense the power of this place?"

"Yes, the power to ruin my life," Sidious responded derisively.

"If you hate it so much, why did you return?"

"I merely require additional samples so their properties can be fully researched," Sidious said, kneeling at the pond and removing five flasks from the belt under his robes. "And reversed."

Talzin adjusted her position so she was seated cross-legged now at the edge of the pond. "Ah. Of course. Must be an awful lot of research if you require so many vials."

"How often do you subject yourself to this thing?" Sidious asked casually.

"About once a year. It won't let me drink from it more often than that."

"Hmmm," Sidious murmured, frowning. This could be a problem. "So all of you can only drink from this thing once a year?"

"Oh, no," Talzin said. "The timing depends on when the pond chooses."

"The pond chooses. The _pond_."

"Yes, I thought that was clear."

"I don't think I've ever articulated how much I hate Dathomir," Sidious said as he scooped up the black liquid in the flasks. After that he did his best to ignore Talzin. He did not want to test himself in battle just now, not when she had turned his own mind against him. He had to admit, if only to himself, that it had been a clever attack. Perhaps he would even use it himself some day, if the opportunity presented itself.

When he returned to his ship, a Naboo cruiser vessel, he entered and set the flasks inside of a secure box. He checked the living space and small sleeping area to ensure everything was as he'd left it, and that there were no stowaways. Then he settled himself at the pilot's controls and entered the coordinates for his return to Sojourn.

Plagueis _would_ fix this. Everything was under control.

He hoped.


	3. Sith's Heir

A/N: I'm back! Just to give a little background on the fic-Palpatine starts out at age 28-29 and I'm currently thinking this fic will span up to the Revenge of the Sith time period. Probably going to be a very different story than the canon one by then, though!

Also thanks to everyone who commented! I really appreciate hearing your thoughts!

Also, as you know, Ambassador Palpatine has his tiny Sith Apprentice Maul. He should probably check in on the little guy, right? Purely to make sure his plans are progressing smoothly, of course...

* * *

Palpatine closed the door of his modest apartment on Naboo, carefully placing the pack with his Sith robes and a single flask on the table.

The last trip to Sojourn had gone, if not well, at least without major incident. Though Plagueis had insisted he didn't require his Apprentice's assistance in researching the reversal of the liquid's effects, which had only confirmed to Sidious that his Master might not be entirely devoted to the task at hand.

And so he had kept a flask for himself. He might not have his Master's skill or knowledge, but he had a library of his own Sith tomes, scrolls, and artifacts. And he thought he might keep a better eye on getting results, rather than losing himself in the process, as he felt his Master sometimes did.

Meanwhile, there was something he wanted to check on. Or someone, rather. Opening the pack, he placed the Sith robes back on over his Ambassador's garb. He walked into his room and lifted a particular bookend on his shelf. The shelf creaked as it moved to the side, revealing a hidden staircase descending into darkness. Sidious walked into the shadows, and the bookcase closed behind him. His vision adjusted with its typical unnatural ease to the gloom. He had had this secret staircase built between his apartment and the adjacent ones when he had moved here. It led to a larger area he had had built far below the apartments that would give him sufficient space and privacy to conduct his work as a Sith. The estate he had inherited would have had more than enough space, of course, but it had also been a source of unpleasant memories for him, prompting him to sell it. It would have killed his father to see him discard it all so casually. He grinned to himself. If Palpatine hadn't _already_ killed him, that was.

When he reached the bottom of the staircase, he keyed the code in the keypad, and the stone in front of him moved aside. He blinked as light entered his eyes again. He noted the droids as they went about their tasks. Then he stopped in front of a large crib. Inside was Maul. The zabrak toddler looked up from the toy he was examining, his eyes suddenly wide. "Mas-ter?"

"Yes. Hello, my young Apprentice." He was pleased to note that the reprogramming he had given the droids during his previous visit had had an effect. The last time he had visited, Maul had tried to call him 'da-da'. That would not do.

The small zabrak extended his arms upward. Sidious hesitated. It was clear to him what the child wanted-he just didn't think he should oblige him. Sith needed to experience coldness and indifference, become inured to it. Use it to make themselves stronger. Nothing that was worth the mantle of Sith needed to be _coddled_. But that traitorous voice inside him seemed to compel him to lean over and pick the child up, holding him to his shoulder and whispering words of comfort to him.

"Someday, you'll be a magnificent Sith Lord, Maul," he said, rocking the child back and forth.

Maul cooed happily. "Mag-nif-cent."

"Hmmm, yes, very good, Maul," Sidious said, pleased. Perhaps he should devote more time to the child's training. There was only so much droids could accomplish, after all. Sidious felt an unfamiliar warmth bloom in his heart, then. Nothing could be allowed to harm Maul. He would be the future of the Sith, if Sidious could not be.

He would not be some mere brute, to be discarded at will, as Sidious and Plagueis had agreed upon before. He _must_ be trained fully, to be the very best Sith that Sidious could possibly make him.

What was this? This sudden desire to devote himself to this small creature that couldn't even keep itself from drooling? Sidious, of course, knew exactly what it was. But what he found disorienting was just how much he wanted to keep it. If love could cause him agonizing pain from his denial of it, it could also try to chain him with this indescribably wonderful feeling. He was afraid now. Afraid he might stop fighting what Talzin had done to him. He should put Maul down now and leave him here, try to clear his head.

But he knew he wouldn't do that.

Sidious turned around to bring Maul up the stairs, but stopped at the sight of an intruder in his lair.

Talzin stood in the doorway, her expression one of delight.

"Oh, my little Maul has grown so much!"

* * *

Sidious stood there in shock and momentary panic before recovering enough of his equilibrium to respond.

"You!" he growled. "How did you get here?"

"I hid on your ship when you left, of course," Talzin responded.

Sidious narrowed his eyes. Obviously she had used some sort of Nightsister ability to conceal herself. It must be extremely effective if he hadn't noticed her _for the entire return trip_. A chill ran down his spine as he realized what this meant. She could have done anything to him during that time-poisoned him, stuck a knife in his chest while he slept. He would have to learn what she had done and how to circumvent it.

But he had a more pressing question at the moment.

"All right," he said. " _Why_ are you here?"

"I'm here for Maul, of course." she said.

"You gave him to me, remember? There will be no-returns." He held the small zabrak more closely.

She smiled lazily. "Oh, I'm not going to take him from you. I only came here to see him."

Sidious gave her a disdainful look. "You've seen him now. I suggest you leave my domain before I make you do so."

Talzin crossed her arms. "And how do you propose to do that? Fight me one-handed with Maul slung over your shoulder like some kind of sack? Do you even know anything about child care?"

Sidious laughed. "That's what droids are for. Anyway, he _likes_ it." He leaned his head over to the infant. "Isn't that right, Maul? You like being a little sack."

"Sack!" Maul said excitedly.

Talzin sighed, grimacing. "I can't say I expected anything else from you. And it's not as if I know much more about the matter. I never really had much time with my little prickly pear before I had to give him up."

"Why did you give him up, anyway, if you're so attached to him?"

A cool expression settled over her face. "I couldn't have him around when I went to murder my dear mother."

Sidious raised an eyebrow. "So that's what happened. I'd wondered why you seemed so-different from the last time. You took her power when she died?"

A look of immense satisfaction crossed her features. "Yes. My mother left me quite the legacy when I forced her from her mortal coil. It's the greatest, and only, generosity I've ever received from her."

 _Intriguing._ It was the same with the Sith, of course. When the Apprentice killed the Master, the power of the Master was passed to them. Plagueis had described to Sidious how just such a thing had happened to him after he had killed his own master, Tenebrous.

And now he knew why Talzin had been able to ward off his attacks as if they were nothing during his recent trip to Dathomir, when just a little over a year and a half ago she had seemed like someone barely worthy of his notice excepting the Force-sensitive child she had to offer. She had been an exhausted, limp woman, so much so that the idea of killing her to ensure she wouldn't be a future threat had seemed ludicrous at the time. He could have blasted her into dust in an instant and that would have been the end of it, but he had dismissed her as unimportant and thought that nature would likely do the job itself in short order.

Of course he now knew he had been quite mistaken. An idea formed in his mind, then. "You probably want to hold your son," Sidious said.

"My, aren't you a master of deduction," she said, light sarcasm tinging her voice.

"I might be persuaded to allow it, if you'll tell me a bit about Nightsister magic."

She raised an eyebrow. "You truly are diabolical."

He smiled. "Why, thank you. Understand, though, that I don't accept compliments in lieu of compensation."


	4. Hypothesis

A/N: Just a very quick chapter to show how Plagueis is coping with all this. Because he's not just going to take this indignity lying down, right?

* * *

Plagueis tapped his journal with the pen, pondering his next words.

 _In summary, the effects of the liquid are indeed quite debilitating. I find that the plans I have carefully cultivated for over a century seem beyond my current capability to implement, and indeed I even question whether my insights are actually worth bringing to pass. There is a great deal of self-flagellation and doubt as well, over events that should be long-forgotten and dismissed. It's all quite disgusting, really._

He sighed, then switched off the datapad, dropping it and the pen onto an empty space on his workbench. As difficult as it had been for him to write that entry, he felt it was also invaluable. It was an essential record into his mental state, one which might otherwise be forgotten or glossed over in the future, and he did not want to lose what might be important information. Clearly, the Nightsisters were hoarding a psychological weapon of great power, and if he must suffer from it, he also fully intended to utilize the experience to learn how it might be turned to his own purposes.

Of course, it would be helpful if he had another data point. Sidious, of course, immediately came to mind, but he also didn't think his Apprentice was as likely to record his thoughts in sufficient detail to be of benefit to Plagueis. It would be laying all his vulnerabilities bare to another, something which Plagueis suspected that Sidious had learned to prevent himself from doing in his time as a Sith. His previous attempts to question Sidious about the liquid had yielded adamant alarm about the liquid's effects, but only an incredibly vague description of said effects that deftly evaded any messy specifics.

But Plagueis could make do. He'd had the thought that certain criminal underworld elements might make good experimental subjects in this regard, and the idea had instantly appealed to him. He was also extremely curious about what the effects of the liquid would be on an average person, and on a Jedi. There was the difficulty that it seemed to actively limit its own voluntary consumption through some as yet unknown mechanism, but Plagueis thought that could be easily overcome through injection by a third party.

He turned his attention to the microscope on his workbench. Bending his long frame over it, he carefully adjusted the lenses until the liquid sample came into focus. This sample looked similar to the previous one, the items of interest being minuscule black orbs suspended in ordinary pond water.

It was clear to Plagueis that these orbs, whatever they were, were the active agents of the solution. It had also become clear through a number of focused experiments that the orbs interacted primarily with midichlorians.

Which made absolutely no sense at all. Plagueis had determined that their effects were purely psychological. He had tested his Force abilities afterwards and found no noticeable differences from his previous benchmarks. Which of course directly contradicted what he had sensed, but observations didn't lie. Plagueis had never had his Force sense deceived in such a way before, but then everything about these entities was highly unusual.

What he should be seeing was some sort of exotic neurotransmitter, but his attempts to introduce the orbs into cultivated neural cells had shown no interesting interactions. They didn't even have interactions with the midichlorians inhabiting the microorganisms in the pond water. It had only been when he'd examined a vial of his own blood, taken after the incident, that he'd finally seen that the orbs were binding to his midichlorians, forming some sort of complex lattice around them.

One spidery hand grabbed a dropper, which he filled with a sample of his own blood from a month ago, a sample that would not have any of the peculiar black orbs of its own yet. He watched with anticipation as the red liquid hit the orb-filled water.

And...nothing happened. Disappointed, he tried several more samples of his own blood and the blood of others, with the same underwhelming results. Sighing, he grabbed a datapad and recorded the information.

The process must only occur in vivo, and only in certain organisms. And those sorts of tests would have to wait. He checked the time. In exactly two standard hours, he would begin his work day. He frowned. Damask Holdings had been having some difficulties ever since the incident with these unidentified menaces, for which said orbs were clearly at fault. While the worst blow to him in his mind was how this would affect his plans as a Sith, it didn't help that his day job had been suffering as well.

His hearts just weren't in it anymore.


	5. Test Subjects

A/N: Another chapter already? That's right! This time from Talzin's POV. So you will get to see some of her thought process.

I've used a number of sources to draw ideas from this story from. One is the Darth Plagueis novel by James Luceno, which remains one of my favorite Star Wars novels. Another book I really like, and which I have drawn some ideas from for this story, is the Book of Sith. The Book of Sith has what are supposed to be short fragments of writings, from various Sith, and also from Mother Talzin, and was supposed to have been compiled by Sidious during his time as Emperor. I have used the ideas from this short picture book (and what cheery pictures they are, haha) on Talzin's beliefs, Sidious's personality, and its emphasis of Plagueis as a bit of a Dr. Frankenstein sort (albeit with a DaVinci-esque aesthetic). There's also Maul: Lockdown by Joe Schrieber which not only features Maul, but also Sidious and Plagueis as well. Wookiepedia is, of course a great resource which I use often, but I find there are some things that can only be obtained from the source material. Also, I found these to be quite fun books.

* * *

Talzin reclined on the ridiculously comfortable sofa that Sidious had in his living room, holding Maul contentedly in her arms. At her insistence, he had agreed that they would all retire upstairs for his interrogations regarding her Nightsister magic. She certainly found it much preferable to the barren subterranean doom nursery where he had been keeping Maul. There were even some flowers here, albeit hacked viciously at the ends and placed in various vases to serve as mere ornament. Barbaric.

"You're a sweet little prickly pear, aren't you? Aren't you?" Talzin said, holding Maul to her chest and bopping his nose gently with one long pointed finger. Maul emitted a high pitched scream of delight, followed by peals of laughter. She considered that it had been perhaps unwise to tell Sidious as much as she had, but for all that he had seemed to soften somewhat since his encounter with the Font of Love, he was still implacable when it came to his desire for knowledge. And she knew where _her_ priorities lay. Even if it seemed that knowledge would only be used by Sidious to further his devotion to the Sith Code.

 _And what a waste that is_ , she thought, for Talzin had long studied the Sith and the Jedi, and the long, protracted war they had waged against each other across the stars. It was a vital backdrop to understanding Allya's true teachings as recorded in the Book of Shadows. And Talzin had determined that it was no wonder the Jedi reigned supreme while the Sith scurried like mice into their burrows. The Sith were such tiresome solitary creatures, their only companion someone who they either plotted to kill or who would eventually kill them. It would be like if her mother had been her only friend. She shuddered inwardly. As distasteful as Talzin found the Jedi, at least they understood the concepts of strength in numbers and solidarity.

The Sith, of course, had some foolhardy plan to destroy the Jedi by stabbing them all simultaneously from the shadows. Which, even if they managed against all odds to succeed, seemed rather empty and dead-ended to her.

After all, what was the point of winning if there was no one with whom you could take thrill in that victory? And if you had no friends, who would protect you from the inevitable backlash? It seemed a life of constantly watching your back and waiting for the knife. She really had done the Sith a favor, even if they didn't see it that way yet.

Still, the reaction Sidious had to Maul seemed promising to her. She could tell that already _that_ attachment was digging its claws in him, much to her immense satisfaction.

And that was another thing. The Sith, having spawned from the Jedi they so loathed, had also kept sacred the Jedi's most ridiculous tenet, that a person should feel no attachment to anyone. But how was that compatible with allowing yourself the freedom to revel in your feelings? It was all quite absurd, really.

"-and do not make me use drastic measures."

Talzin looked up from Maul's tiny laughing face.

"What?" she said. "Oh, please excuse me-I was a bit preoccupied. Prickly pear loves to have his nose bopped, you see. I bet you didn't know that."

The red-haired Sith Lord curled his lip in distaste. "Be that as it may, your time with 'prickly pear' is up." he held out his arms expectantly. "Return him to me now."

"Prickle pear," Maul said.

Talzin smiled widely, delighted. "Oh, he knows it now! He knows he's a prickly pear!" She bopped his nose once again and handed him to back to an exasperated Sidious.

"That's ridiculous," Sidious said, scowling. "Do you want your son thinking his name is 'prickly pear'?" As he turned to look at Maul, all hostility dissolved from his face and he said with a warm smile, "Don't worry, Maul. I will ensure you know your _real_ name. Come now. Say Maul. Maul?"

"Prickle," Maul said, his eyes wide, expression serious. "Prickle pear."

Sidious sighed. "Your mother is a bad influence."

"Oh, _I'm_ the bad influence? Who wants to turn my son into a Sith Lord?"

Sidious raised an eyebrow. "You have an objection? I thought you said that would be what was best for him."

"Of my available options at the time, it was the best choice, yes. Of any possible option? A vastly inferior one."

Sidious frowned, holding Maul to his chest. "What were your other options?"

"His death. His torture and captivity to my mother. I could not have defeated her if I had to worry she might get her hands on him. I knew what you were. That was still better than the alternative. With her, he would have been nothing more than a bargaining chip, his torture or murder used to keep me in line."

"You are talking about your mother, as in your parent? Or your clan Mother?"

"Both."

"Then, she would do that to her own grandson?"

"Without hesitation. She knew my love for him."

Sidious held Maul closer. "I see."

There was a beeping noise. Sidious fished his comm out of a pocket and, shooing Talzin out of visual range, turned it on. Talzin watched with interest as a tall, spindly creature in robes was displayed in the palm of his hand.

"Apprentice," he said.

"Lord Plagueis. Is there something you require from me?"

 _Lord Plagueis_ , Talzin thought with interest. _So this is Sidious's Master._ He did not look particularly dangerous, but Talzin knew that looks could often be deceiving.

"Yes, I-is that Maul?" The holo of Plagueis asked.

"Oh, ah, yes. I was just exercising him, Master. To make sure he grows strong."

The frown on the holo deepened. "Can't your droids do that?"

"No, Master," Sidious said, looking towards the floor. "They are-malfunctioning."

"I see," Plagueis said doubtfully. "Anyway, I've made a couple of discoveries about the liquid which I think will be useful to share with you, Sidious."

"Oh. Thank you, Master," Sidious said.

"Think nothing of it. The first is that it does not increase one's power."

"But Master, I felt-"

Plagueis held up a hand. "As did I. But my tests of my abilities showed no differences from before. Our senses have deceived us."

"Ah," Sidious said. "That's-unfortunate."

"Indeed," Plagueis said. "The second discovery is that the substance operates on midichlorians in some way."

 _Midi-what?_ Talzin thought. It was such a bizarre-sounding term.

"Ah. Then I gather you will have no difficulty discovering the mechanism through which it operates."

"Actually, that is part of the problem," Plagueis said, grimacing. "That interaction does not make sense."

"Oh," Sidious said. "How-unfortunate." Did Talzin detect a note of relief in his voice?

"Yes. It may take me some time to study it. To that end, I need you to obtain for me a number of test subjects."

Sidious looked at him blankly. "Of what sort?"

"Criminals of various types," Plagueis said. "Sorted by rank. I plan to obtain a few myself, but it would be too time-consuming for me to acquire the necessary numbers alone."

Sidious raised an eyebrow. "What are they for?"

"A comparison. Behavior before and after exposure to the liquid. Also, to study attempts to reverse the effects."

"Would this not attract unwanted attention to us in the criminal underworld?" Sidious asked.

"If we are not careful, yes. You must not be either Sidious or Palpatine when you perform this task. Understood?"

"Yes, Master."

"Good. I will send you a document detailing my specific requirements for these subjects. I will expect a status report from you in a week." Then the hologram cut off.

Sidious turned his head towards the ceiling, emitting a long sigh.

Talzin had gleaned some interesting observations from the conversation. She considered commenting on the fact that Sidious had intentionally concealed her presence from his Master. Or that, from what Plagueis had implied, he had also drank water from the Font of Love, presumably from the flask Sidious had collected earlier. But first, she had a question.

"What are _midichlorians_?" she asked.

"My Master's one true love," Sidious answered slowly.


	6. The Agreement

A/N: And here we are again! While I never write any chapter I feel is dull or filler, I do feel this chapter slows the pace of the story a bit. It addresses some important plot points, however, so I felt I should include it for that reason. I consider this a kind of interlude chapter. Still, while the action quotient is admittedly low, I had a lot of fun writing it. And I do hope to ratchet the action up in the next chapter.

Public Service Announcement that adorable infants lead to diapers gratuitously included.

* * *

Sidious looked between Maul and Talzin. If he was going to collect dangerous criminals for Plagueis, it might be easier if he did it without a baby zabrak in tow. He could leave Maul with the caretaker droids for now. He would merely-move them upstairs. Something in him couldn't bring himself to leave Maul in the lonely cavern he had carved out to conceal his Apprentice, even if it would be the easiest solution. He knew with a feeling of absolute certainty then that he never wanted Maul to have to see that loathsome place again. It had been created with a much crueler intent than he could now bring himself to implement.

 _Weak. Soft. Foolish._ Sidious could easily expand the list of undesirable traits he seemed to have acquired. In fact there were several Sith curses he felt could much more adequately express just how far he had fallen. He was still berating himself for not hiding Maul before answering his Master's call. There had been time, but a completely irrational part of him had been unwilling to let the tiny zabrak hybrid out of his grasp. His Master had not been fooled. He had merely chosen to overlook the issue for the moment. It chilled him to think what punishment Plagueis might see fit to mete out once that moment had passed.

But still, he had gotten away with it for now. And so Sidious had made up his mind, however much he might come to regret his decision later. He called up the holoscreen at his desk and searched until he found an appropriate form template.

"What are you doing?" Talzin asked, her tone one of mild curiosity. She was now standing next to him behind the desk.

"Adopting Maul," Sidious said. He filled out the forms, falsifying most of the entries.

"But-you've already adopted him."

"True, but there's no paperwork, and that matters on Naboo. I can't just go walking around with a child who's clearly not mine, with no record of how I got him. People may start asking inconvenient questions."

"Oh. So you _do_ plan to take him outside. That's a relief, then."

Sidious didn't answer. Maul, meanwhile, had crawled up Sidious's robes and started gently tapping his tiny hand on the Sith Lord's nose.

"Just a moment, Maul," Sidious said, craning his head to look at the holoscreen. Having finished the forms, he then used a program he had earlier obtained from a slicer to deposit the records in the appropriate locations-one in a large orphanage on Coruscant, the other in the records office on Naboo. He had no idea _how_ the program worked, of course, but unlike Plagueis, such details had never troubled him. The important thing was that it _did_ work, and very effectively. Though he had never imagined it would be put to this specific use.

"There," he said. "It's official." _Maul is_ mine _._ He lifted the child up, smiling at him, and then placed him on his shoulder. Then, he looked over at Talzin. "And now, we come to an important question. When were you planning on leaving my abode?"

"Soon."

"Ah, that's good to hear. When you leave-"

"I thought I'd come along on this little trip of yours. I plan on returning when you do, of course."

"What." Sidious stared at her.

Talzin smiled. "Did you think I came all the way here merely for a brief glance at Maul?"

There were two issues here that Sidious felt needed to be addressed. He decided to address the longer-term one first.

"You cannot seriously think that I will allow you to stay here," he said.

"You should. There is a great deal I have not yet told you about the power of the Nightsisters."

"And I'm sure we can arrange for you to tell me that somewhere _besides_ my personal apartment."

"True. But consider this-I can help you protect Maul."

Sidious was silent at that, trying to formulate a suitable retort. But none came. He had thought he was being clever, earlier, using her affection for Maul for his own personal benefit. But now, it seemed, she had turned the same tactic back on him.

"All right. I'll allow it." He held up a finger. "But there are a few terms you must agree to."

"Yes?"

"One-you do not enter my room. Ever." He would not have her riffling through his Sith tomes, his art collection, or sleeping in _his_ bed. He pointed to the couch. "You can sleep there."

"Sure," she said serenely.

"Two-absolutely no one besides myself and Maul will know you are here. You will make yourself invisible if necessary-a skill I know you are quite capable of."

"No problem," she said, and smiled.

"Three-you will not interfere in Maul's education as a Sith Lord."

"Agreed," she said, though not without some amount of sourness in her voice.

"Then we have a deal," Sidious said. Now to address the second issue. "Oh, and you will not be coming along with me when I go on this criminal collection spree for Plagueis."

"Why not? I could help with that, too."

Sidious crossed his arms. "And why would you do that? Plagueis intends to use them to discover a way to reverse what you did to us."

"That may be what he _intends_ , but there is no way to reverse the effect of the Font, Sidious," Talzin said. "There have been attempts, of course, but none who ever succeeded. It is impossible."

"Yes, yes, that's very nice," Sidious said. "And do you know what that means?"

"Plagueis will fail."

"No, because impossible just means everyone gave up when it got too hard. But _he_ will keep digging and digging until he's broken up whatever causes that glorified pond muck to work into tiny pieces, and those pieces, into tiny pieces, and so on, until he knows how all the parts fit together and has worked out everything they do and how they do it. And then he will know how to reverse it."

"You cannot break _love_ up into pieces," Talzin said.

"No, _I_ cannot. But Plagueis can. The universe is just one big puzzle box to him."

"I would like to see him try," Talzin said smugly. "Anyway, do I detect a note of concern from you? Perhaps you no longer want this to be reversed?"

He scowled at her. "What do you think? I want to protect Maul. And that includes from old me. _Especially_ from old me. But I can't exactly ignore a direct command from my Master. I'm not ready to confront him yet."

"Then bring me with you," Talzin said. "If what you fear does come to pass, you will not have to face him alone. But I would like to see him. In the flesh. To study the studier."

Sidious hesitated. What Talzin had suggested was unSithly, a blasphemy even. A Sith who could not kill their Master alone was no Sith at all. Then again, allowing his Apprentice to use him as a jungle gym was also very unSithly. Perhaps he must allow himself to be more flexible if he wanted to succeed.

"All right."

In the end, they took Maul, too. Sidious realized he no longer trusted leaving Maul alone for so long with the caretaker droids, and an ordinary babysitter would hardly do. He also took one of the caretaker droids, though, as both Sith and Nightsister feared the prospect of changing their tiny charge's diapers.


	7. Captives

A/N: Hello again! Thanks to those who have commented on this story so far! I very much appreciate the feedback!

Just a warning: this chapter may make some people squeamish, despite the fact that I've worked to tone down the violence to a Teen level. This chapter also took me some extra effort, due to it's unusual structure. I'd be most interested to hear any feedback anyone has to give about any element of the story, but I also have some questions I am particularly curious about. Does the structure work for you? Or does it make it difficult to read through? Do any aspects of the chapter make you sqeamish, and if so what parts? Would you have preferred if I had toned it down even more, or do you think it's just right or even a bit too tame? If anyone is willing to give feedback on any of these aspects, it would be much appreciated.

I've drawn freely on both the Legends and canon material here, as I always do, as well as making things up when necessary.

* * *

 _Black Sun Sub-Headquarters, Ord Mantell_

"Found him right outside," One of the mercenaries said. "Says he's come to collect a debt." he laughed.

 _Target is human, just under 2 meters tall, and 52 years old._ The Black Sun head for the sector sat on a ostentatious throne. _Demonstrates terrible taste in decor_ , Plagueis noted _._

The human laughed. "You came to the wrong place, my friend."

"Your name is Rizlus Arcturus, is it not?" Plagueis asked. "Sub-Directorate for Black Sun."

"Yes, and you are?"

"Mak Plain," Plagueis said.

"I see. The thing is, Mak, we don't particularly care for those who come rooting around here for money without paying their proper respects."

"Proper respects?" Plagueis asked, raising one hairless brow.

"Do you know how to kneel, Muun?"

Plagueis was silent a moment. _Exhibits excessive displays of dominance despite limited influence._ "I do."

"Then I think you know what happens now."

"You're absolutely right." Plagueis grabbed the necks of the two heavyset, but shorter, mercenaries, pinching a pressure point. The two men toppled to the ground. He then loped over to Rizlus and, pulling out his concealed weapon, stabbed the man with it in the heart.

Rizlus gaped at Plagueis, then stared down at the syringe in shock before collapsing in his throne. Plagueis leaned over him and checked his pulse and breathing, which he found to be within the expected parameters of the sedative he had used. Turning to the mercenaries, he saw they had also both survived his attack.

 _All targets successfully acquired,_ Plagueis thought with satisfaction.

* * *

 _Darropolis, Hosnian Prime_

"Please, sir," Sidious said. holding up his hands. "Don't hurt me."

The man stared at him, his eyes wide. "Oh, but don't you know? Hurting people is what I do. It's what I'm built for."

"Please, have mercy."

"I don't understand that term."

"Don't do this! I have a family."

"Don't care." The man took a vibroblade out of his pocket. "Now let's hear some screams."

 _I agree._ Sidious grabbed the man's wrist and pushed it back 180 degrees until he heard a loud crunch. The man screamed and dropped the blade, which Sidious grabbed with his other hand. The Sith Lord then kicked him in the solar plexus, sending him crumbling to the ground in a heap.

Sidious grimaced, and kicked the man a few more times for good measure. He found the physicality of these attacks distasteful. His very essence was a weapon, and he was reduced to this? But Plagueis had insisted that they not use any skill that might inadvertently indicate their status as Sith. Which meant no Force abilities, or even lightsabers.

 _This is beneath me,_ Sidious thought sulkily as he bent down and began dragging the man back to his ship.

* * *

 _Ivax Nebula_ , _Anoat Sector_

"You are Voras the Hutt?" Plagueis asked.

"I should think that would be obvious," the Hutt replied in his native language. "Not that I imagine you comprehend Huttese." Looking up at the guard, he said. "This had better be worth my time."

"I caught him wandering a quarter mile north of here," the guard said. "Certainly he's decent hostage material."

 _Hutt,age 237, head of Ivax Syndicate._

"I trust you checked he was someone more significant than a lowly accountant?" Voras asked, his tone bored.

"He's a Muun," the guard said. "Got to be worth something. Maybe alot of something."

"You _didn't_ check, did you?" Voras said. He turned his gaze to Plagueis. "I suppose we can put him in a holding cell until he can be identified. Was he carrying any ID?"

"No, sir."

"Curious," Voras murmured.

It was at that moment that 11-4D, disguised as a protocol droid, struck out with multiple stun-blasts. The five guards in the area dropped, and Voras widened his large eyes, lurching with surprising speed off his dias.

"You've got to be kidding me," the Hutt rumbled to himself as he slid across the floor, ducking behind tables and sofas and attempting to reach the exit.

 _Inconveniently fast,_ Plagueis thought as he pursued the fleeing Hutt.

Just as Voras reached the entryway, Plagueis caught up with him and stabbed him in the flank with a syringe. Voras made a noise of dismay and whipped around, grabbing Plagueis with his large muscular tail and lifting him off the ground, squeezing thick muscles around his chest and neck.

Plagueis could feel himself begin to suffocate. Just as he had prepared to use a Force attack in desperation, the Hutt's grip on him slackened and the Sith fell to the ground, covered in slime. Plagueis rose, attempting to wipe off the unpleasant material.

 _Target acquired. Barely._

11-4D walked up to Plagueis. "I apologize I could not be of more assistance. Energy blasts are ineffective on Hutts."

"The fault is mine," Plagueis said. "I became overconfident. Still, we have succeeded. Now I will require your assistance with moving Voras." He looked down at the Hutt, who's eyes were still wide open, his mouth slack. Plagueis had used a paralytic rather than a sedative this time, as all the known Hutt sedatives had required an overly large dosage and waiting time to take effect.

So Voras was still fully conscious. Plagueis looked down at him. "You may find this part slightly uncomfortable," he noted. "I would apologize, but you _did_ try to kill me."

* * *

 _Broken Horn Syndicate Headquarters, Lothal_

"If it isn't our sneaker," Aritar Vizago said, crossing his arms. The Devaronian eyed Sidious contemptuously.

"I wasn't-"

"Save your protests," Aritar said. "You were sneaking, and if you were sneaking, it means you were thieving."

"Are you-going to get me in trouble with the authorities?"

Aritar laughed. "That's a good one! No, we take out our own trash here."

To his guards. "Remove all his fingers."

Sidious was bound this time, but he had anticipated this complication. He had taken the time conversing with Aritar to pick the lock. Not that lockpicking was his specialty, but he'd tried it over 200 times in Force visions until he'd finally figured out the trick. That had been a lot of hypothetical fingers lost.

He took out his anger by grabbing a blaster from one of the guards while poking the other in the eyes. Sidious grinned maniacally as he shot at the guards and Aritar, who dove for cover. Not all of them survived.

But Sidious wasn't troubled by this. He had ensured Aritar had lived, along with a random selection of his underlings. That would have to be enough to appease his Master.

Aritar crawled slowly behind a crate, groaning. Sidious stood over him.

"I was just joking about the fingers," Aritar pleaded.

Sidious bent down over him. "I don't believe you." Then he changed the setting on the blaster and shot Aritar in the face with a stun blast.

* * *

 _Level 1313, Coruscant_

Plagueis opened his eyes, noting with interest that the metal slab he had been manacled to was surgical-grade. He'd allowed his attacker to sneak up on him and administer the sedative, silently reversing its effects with his Force powers as he'd allowed his body to fall limply to the ground. He trusted that such a thing would be unlikely to be detected even if his attacker hadn't taken great pains to ensure he wouldn't be seen. The mode of attack fit the description. _Subject is behavioral match for target._ Deciding that he should make a show of it, he started rattling the manacles.

"Oh, so you're awake now," the man turned around. He wore a smock and a doctor's mask.

"What do you want? I am quite wealthy," Plagueis said.

The man laughed. "Oh, you needn't trouble yourself with the cost. I do all my operations for free, you see."

 _The Dissector, human, age unknown, true name unknown. Psychopath, homicidal type. Fascination with anatomy._

The Dissector walked up to him and placed a stethoscope on the Sith Lord's chest, making a displeased 'hmmmm' sound after a moment. "Your heartbeats seem unusually calm for one of my-patients. A bit of an adrenaline speed-up, but not erratic. You do not appear to be a Muun under significant stress."

 _Possesses_ s _ome legitimate knowledge of physiology. Intriguing. Perhaps we should compare notes sometime._ Plagueis performed a quick scan of the room.

"This appears to be a completely private location with soundproof walls and no cameras," the Sith Lord noted.

"Yes, I would consider that the ideal environment to perform my procedures on conscious subjects," The Dissector said. "It's not exactly a legal activity, after all."

"Perfect."

The man gave Plagueis a baffled look, his eyes wide. Plagueis unleashed a Force wave which sent The Dissector smashing into the far wall along with a number of glass vials and medical implements. He ripped his arms and legs out of the manacles and sat up on the slab, rubbing at his wrists. Jumping off the table, he walked over to The Dissector, grabbed one of the man's own syringes, checked the label, and stabbed him in the chest with it.

 _Target acquired._

* * *

 _Pirate Vessel, Sriluur_

Sidious, hanging by nothing more than his two hands off an airborne shuttle, had had an epiphany.

 _I hate pirates._ More specifically, he hated their boots.

Sidious hissed as the pirate captain brought her durasteel-toed boot down on his hand.

"No one double-crosses Jenea Ohnaka!" Sidious moved his other hand before she could stomp that one, too.

"Obviously you're wrong about that," he goaded.

"Arrgh! Fine. No one double crosses me and lives!" She stomped again.

This time Sidious was a split second too slow and the pirate crushed a finger. _This is completely ridiculous._

Sure, the pirate captain was surrounded by a rather numerous assemblage of lowlifes. And sure, she was reasonably well-armed. But that sort of thing was an obstacle to normal people. Not Sith Lords!

Nevertheless, the Weequay woman seemed absolutely untouchable. And Sidious had an inkling as to why from what he could sense of her. She was a Dark Side nexus. It made absolutely no sense-a nexus was a place, not a person. But-there it was, plain as day to him. She was a walking, talking, boot-stomping Dark Side nexus.

"Looks like you missed a spot," he mocked, glancing at his remaining uninjured digits. He didn't think the Dun Moch was actually doing him any favors in this case, but it was just his nature. On the other hand, it seemed it hadn't occurred to her to just shoot him in the face yet, so maybe it was of some value.

"I will kill you and then I will kill you again!" she said.

 _This is not worth it_ , Sidious decided. "You can only do that once, you know," he drawled. She wasn't Plagueis, after all. At least there was that.

Just as she was about to bring her boot down to stomp his remaining good fingers, two red-robed arms materialized out of a green mist and pulled her back.

"Aughh!" the pirate groaned, hitting Talzin in the face repeatedly with the side of her blaster. The Nightsister grimaced and backed away. Sidious thought she might be sensing the same thing he had from the pirate.

Talzin's expression brightened suddenly and she grabbed a Weequay man who was standing off to the side. Then she jumped out the the open hatchway Sidious was hanging onto. Looking down, he saw their ship. _Time to get off this worthless rock._

He grinned up at the enraged pirate and let go of the hatchway. He and Talzin landed on top of their ship, which then began to move away from the pirate vessel.

"Come back here with my jogan cake, you vile creatures!"

 _Her what?_ Sidious thought, before he realized she was referring to the man Talzin held. He must be her-lover? Husband? Whatever his significance to her, it seemed to be preventing her from firing on their ship, which Sidious found an immense relief.

They entered the ship and left Sriluur right then, Sidious applying bacta bandages to his fingers and noting the caretaker droid piloting the ship. He'd wondered who had been flying it. Talzin, meanwhile, had placed the Weequay in a holding cell, and was now holding Maul to her robes and showing him something outside the ship's window.

This trip had been a wretched failure. It troubled him that he had put Maul in danger, however briefly. And Sidious hadn't even achieved his objective, since Plagueis had specifically requested the pirate captain, and not her spouse, lover, or whoever the Weequay they now held captive was. He did not look forward to explaining this.

But Sidious wasn't going back for her.


	8. Master and Apprentice

A/N: Hello! Here's the new chapter. Featuring a travelling Nightsister, a baby Maul cameo, and two Sith Lords in agony! By the way, I added a fairly substantial scene to chapter 1 after writing chapter 7. So do feel free to head back there if you missed that and want to see the full HD version of the wrecking of Palpatine via family flashbacks! I'll also be referencing that scene later on in the story.

I appreciate the reviews I've received for this story so far and I hope you'll let me know what you think as the story goes on! Also note that while I have no shortage of ideas and interesting scenarios (as well a a great beta reader!) for this story, I also take all suggestions into account. So if there's a question you'd like to see answered, a character you'd like to see more of, or a scenario you think would be really cool, do feel free to let me know! While I do not guarantee it will make its way into the story, I do consider all such ideas and I have used quite a few such suggestions in the past.

Also, thanks to guest reviewer Glycogen for your comment about teenage San Hill! I'm going to have fun writing him as well! Since I can't send you a PM I thought I'd reply to your note here.

* * *

Landing his private yacht on Sojourn, Plagueis intended to move his new captives to their holding cells soon, but first he felt a compulsion to attend to something quite different.

Plagueis turned a corner of the compound, and there it was. The hallway with the holding cells containing his experimental subjects. There were forty cells, half empty, the other half containing a number of sapient species-human, trandoshan, yinchorri, wookie, and others still. As he walked past them, a datapad in his hand, he frowned, troubled by something besides their progression in his experiments. He saw them all watch him with varying degrees of apprehension and hatred, their pain apparent to him not only through their expressions, but through his connection to them in the Force.

It was that pain that had been troubling him. It was causing him pain. All of them had been slaves or other unfortunates who he had acquired through various shady means. They had done nothing to provoke his cruelty to them. Of course, Plagueis had never cared before. But it seemed that had changed. He entered the cell of the first captive, a human dressed in the plain brown jumpsuit he supplied all of them.

"Hello," he said. "You are injured. Allow me to assist." He held out a hand, and coaxed the midichlorians to close the precise, surgical wounds in the her arm. Wounds he had created.

The human watched him silently with suspicion. Plagueis hesitated.

"I am going to release you."

The human gave him a wary look. "You will send me back to Gardulla?" Fear and uncertainty flitted across her features.

"No," Plagueis said. "You will be free. "

"Where will I go?"

"A few moments, please," Plagueis said, bringing up the HoloNet page for Damask Holdings on his datapad and logging into the site. A moneyless freed slave would just end up a slave again. Clearly, they would need some sort of financial resources if they were to avoid that fate. But how much should he give them?

 _Perhaps 5,000?_ he thought. _No, that won't last long at all._

 _25,000, then?_ It seemed a rather paltry amount.

 _50,000?_ Perhaps more reasonable, but they had no possessions-no clothes, besides the rather unstylish jumpsuit they wore, no speeders, no furniture, no books, datapads, nor anything else an ordinary person would have purchased over the course of their life.

 _100,000?_ That might make up for their disadvantage somewhat, but what about education, without which they might be unqualified for any jobs allowing them to better themselves?

 _500,000?_ Yes, that seemed-but wait. What if they had health expenses from damage he couldn't heal, or from something he had overlooked?

 _1 million. Surely that is enough._

He frowned.

 _Perhaps there should be some additional cushion, in case I overlooked an expense._

He created the new account, placing the ownership in the human's name. He had logged in as a fictitious employee, so the account creation would not be linked to him. After all, a new account created by a large banking company such as his was just another account among billions. An account created by the CEO of that company, on the other hand, would be rather more peculiar and could draw unwanted attention.

He finished creating the account in a matter of minutes.

Plagueis handed her a card. "This is linked to an account containing 2 million credits. It is yours."

She looked at the card in stunned shock. "Why are you doing this?"

Plagueis looked down at the cell's silvery metallic floor. "I believe it is called-guilt," he said. He paused. "You will not remember any of this. You escaped Gardulla and won the money in the lotto." He didn't need to elaborate the suggestion. Her mind would fill in the necessary details.

"If you say so," she said, giving him a bemused smile. Plagueis returned the smile. The suggestion would not take effect until she left the planet. It would be too confusing otherwise.

He briefly wondered if giving former slaves such exorbitant resources might draw unwanted attention to himself, or to them. He did not think it would be traced to him. The truth of the situation was in this case much more bizarre than any likely scenario a hypothetical investigator might devise. Perhaps the main concern would be suspicion that the money was stolen. But he had already created a record trail to a fictitious lotto account from which the money had supposedly been transferred from. And any investigation of transfers from that account would only occur if the account holder complained, which of course was a rare occurrence for nonexistent account holders.

But what if? What if somehow, an investigation was opened by some nosy busybody who found the circumstances suspicious? Possible. He supposed that was a risk, but he also thought that 2 million credits would give someone reasonable protection from that risk.

More worryingly, was it possible the _Jedi_ would become involved, perhaps if one of the former slaves was linked to criminal activity? And what if that somehow led them to him? Plagueis smiled wryly, quickly dismissing the thought. _Because of course the Jedi always investigate crimes outside their jurisdiction._

With that fear allayed, Plagueis opened the next cell.

It took him some time to attend to the rest of the captives. However, after three hours, twenty Force healings, 40 million credits, and one large cruiser shuttle later, he had finally completed his task. All forty cells stood empty. _It was necessary. I needed more-space._ Only, of course he hadn't, not with half the cells originally empty, and space didn't explain the effort he had gone through to soothe their pain, or the sizable sum of money he had unnecessarily parted with.

He sighed and then turned to the opposite wall. Several hundred smaller cages lined the wall. These were the non-sapient test subjects. He stared at them. Beady eyes of various furred, feathered, and scaled creatures stared back. He sighed and put a hand to his forehead.

 _Oh, no. Nonononono._

 _Not them, too._

 _I'm not done with them._

 _Those experiments are still-in progress._

 _Much like the status of the other experiments with the slaves._

 _But! The slaves were different!_

 _Larger. Took up too much space._

 _I won't do it._

 _I won't!_

Slowly, gritting his teeth, he walked up to the control console and stared down at it. He noted the red of the alphanumeric Aurabesh characters and the black of the background. He noted the curved squares outlining each character. He ran a finger down the side of the console.

Some of the furred animals began squeaking and chittering excitedly.

"This isn't what it looks, you know," he said to them with a grimace.

A lizard stared at him.

"You mean nothing to me. Vermin." He sneered at it.

Several birds cooed.

"You think that's charming? You know what's even better? Slides of your entrails."

Soon the animals were emitting a cacophony of sound.

With deliberate slowness, he typed each letter and digit of the authorization code, his face a mask of incandescent rage. Nearly completed, he yanked his hand back, as if from a flame, holding his wrist with the other hand.

 _If I do this, it undermines everything I stand for._

After a maddening several minutes of deliberation, he loosened his grip on the hand, and it reached out again, tentatively. The last letter was typed. All the cells opened at once.

Immediately, animals jumped, hopped, or flew out from their cages. A feeling of immense relief washed over him as he watched them scurry, slither, and flap away in all directions.

"Go free!" Plagueis said quietly, smiling brightly while feeling both strangely elated and disgusted with himself. The animals dispersed within the compound. There were no windows or doors leading outside in this area. _Free enough_ , he supposed. Plagueis didn't have time to carry each and every one of the small creatures outside. It wasn't as if he cared what happened to them, after all.

Revolting, all of them.

 _I have completely lost it._

He sighed. He still needed to go and move the captured criminals here. Then he would wait for Sidious. His Apprentice would be arriving with his own set of captives soon.

Plagueis wondered why he did not feel similarly distraught about his new test subjects, who he thought much more similar to him than any of the ones he had released. How exactly did this emotional response work? This 'love'? It didn't seem to make him care for everyone indiscriminately. Thankfully. But what was the deciding factor? He needed more data. And he needed it fast.

 _Subject is experiencing rapid degradation of character. Loss of resolve and-_ he grimaced- _gross sentimentality._

* * *

Exiting hyperspace, Sidious thought it was time to ensure everything was in order for the trip to Sojourn.

Sidious looked to the cradle where he would be leaving Maul for the duration of his stay at Sojourn. The caretaker droid, with its boxy but friendly-looking face would see to Maul's needs while Sidious and Talzin walked through the compound that comprised the secret laboratory of Sidious' Master.

"You're sure you can do this without being detected by Plagueis?" Sidious spoke to Talzin inside the ship, holding Maul in one arm. He had some apprehensions about her trying to use her powers of invisibility to deceive his Master.

Talzin smiled. "I wasn't detected by you."

"That's different," Sidious said. "Plagueis is considerably more knowledgeable than I. He has lived longer already than any human lives in an entire lifetime."

"There is only way to find out for certain, yes," Talzin said. "But I will not wait here, in fear of him. If the worst happens then I will-improvise."

Sidious frowned. "You mean, you don't have a plan for if something goes wrong?"

"I don't think that's necessary."

"Well, I do!" He took a deep breath, his mind racing. "Alright. If Plagueis sees you, I will feign ignorance of your presence, and I will offer to question you myself. If Plagueis refuses that offer and takes you captive, I will secretly release you, and again claim ignorance when he brings up your disappearance. If he tries to kill you, we will both attack him then and try to kill him." It seemed a very inelegant and simplistic plan, but surely it was better than nothing. Improvise indeed!

"Your concern for me is heartwarming," Talzin said. "If entirely unnecessary."

Sidious pointed a finger at her, scowling. "I am not doing this for you. I am doing this for Maul. You would do well to understand the difference."

"Of course," she said, smiling serenely.

 _Infuriating_ , he thought. However, it wasn't anger, but worry that creased his brow as he watched her prepare her spell.

* * *

Sidious had felt a change in the humid air of Sojourn the moment he had arrived, a feeling of the Force twisting in on itself, and had feared that it might be a sign of his Master's growing temper, perhaps at the failures Sidious had reported to him.

He couldn't have been more mistaken.

"Master," Sidious said, as they reached the cell block, Sidious leading a prisoner towards the cells and zapping him with Force Lightning whenever he thought to try to escape. "This place seems unusually empty." There were a handful of prisoners who looked to be the criminals Plagueis had recently captured, but Sidious knew he had had a number of slaves he used in his experiments.

"That's because I released all my prior test subjects."

"The slaves? I assume you cleared their memories of this place?"

"Yes, that's correct."

Sidious's eyes widened. "You completed your experiments with them?" He shoved the captive criminal forward when he dallied in front of him. Briefly, he wondered where Talzin might be at this moment, but of course it could only be a good thing that he couldn't answer that question.

"Not really," Plagueis said casually, his expression dispassionate. "I needed the extra space." He didn't meet his Apprentice's gaze.

Sidious didn't believe the excuse for a moment. He tried to wrap his mind around the idea of an impulse powerful enough to cause Plagueis to abandon an experiment. Perhaps if he felt his life threatened. But that hardly seemed the case here. Yet he knew what must be at the root of this. This was not attachment to a particular person he felt close to, as Sidious had come to associate with his own changed nature. This was true, undiluted compassion-a drive to care that extended even to those he may have encountered only briefly and might never see again. It was that terrible rot the Jedi were always preaching. At any rate, for Plagueis to put such things even above his own greatest interests seemed inconceivable to Sidious.

Sidious resolved then and there not to let himself go that far. He would care about Maul, and _only_ Maul. To allow himself anything else would be the worst weakness and sentimentality. Though he admitted, he also cared for his mother and siblings-but they were dead-so he did not see how that could further influence him. And he certainly didn't care for Talzin, though he couldn't help wonder if she trailed behind them or to the side, and whether she was keeping a cautious distance from Plagueis or hovering over his shoulder. Plagueis who had, it seemed, undergone a much more dramatic shift than his Apprentice.

And the release of the slaves was not even the full extent of it.

"I notice," Sidious said carefully, "that I hear nothing from the small cells, either."

"Oh, that. There was a malfunction in the cage wiring. It released all the test subjects," Plagueis said calmly.

"Most unfortunate," Sidious said.

"Indeed," Plaguies replied, though he hardly sounded disappointed, and there was the shadow of a smile on his face as he stared off into the distance.

 _I don't believe it_ , Sidious thought, stunned. _He let them go._ What other explanation made sense? Sidious did not buy for a moment that the malfunction had been in the _wiring_. It was all due to the effects of the Font, as Talzin called it. What else would explain his Master's complete lack of rage at this turn of events?

Sidious realized then that he was feeling something akin to affection for his Master. The Muun had been more of a father to him than the man who had sired him, after all. And he seemed genuinely calm and content now, his manner pleasant and friendly. _No. This is dangerous_ , he thought. _Plagueis is dangerous. He needs to die. It's the only way to be sure I'm safe. It's the only way to be sure Maul is safe. No loose ends._

Plagueis wasn't making such thoughts easy, however.

"I'm pleased with your results, Sidious," he said. "With these test subjects, I will have plenty of data points. You have done an excellent job."

Sidious tried to quash the growing pride he felt. What made it worst of all was that he suspected his Master might actually mean it. "Are you certain? As I said, I wasn't able to retrieve the pirate captain."

Plagueis waved a hand dismissively. "These things happen," he said. "Anyway, a sapient Dark Side nexus would hardly be an ideal test subject. Probably would have thrown my data way off." He looked up, turning his head to an empty cell. "You can put this one here."

Sidious smiled, shoving the prisoner into the indicated cell and activating the force field to contain him. "Of course, Master." He began to worry that his desire for Plagueis' approval would interfere with what he felt needed to be done. He had already told Talzin that he planned to strike at Plagueis soon, perhaps even within the next year.

But he couldn't do that if he was going to become so sickeningly maudlin.


	9. Deception

Got a new chapter here! Just a short one, but I think it sets up some useful framework for the story, as well as being a nice little bonding scene for Palpatine and Maul.

As always, I'd be most interested to hear what you think! Am I delivering what you want in a Palpatine redemption fic?

Anyway, here we are! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Palpatine had at last returned to his Naboo apartment and closed the door. The trip to leave the captive criminals with Plagueis had gone without incident. Which was to say, none of the criminals had escaped, Palpatine had successfully transferred ten additional flasks from the Font of Love to Plagueis, and most importantly, Talzin had at no point been detected.

Now Talzin was familiarizing herself with the layout of Theed from her perspective of invisibility. He supposed she might instead still be in his apartment, hovering undetected, but she didn't seem to want to miss any opportunity to steal Maul's attention from him, so he rather doubted it.

Which meant he was alone with Maul now. Turning to face the living room, he decided it was time to start addressing the threads of his nascent plans, which would now require a new deception.

Eventually, he would have to address Talzin's role in this as well, but he thought it best to give that aspect some thought. He would need to talk with her about the matter anyway, obtain her agreement, tiresome as that sounded to him. He was not accustomed to detailing his plans or requiring their approval from anyone besides Plagueis, and even then, he had always kept many things from the Master who he had planned in time to replace.

But it seemed that his new reality would require considerably more cooperation, cumbersome though that might be to him. He felt comfortable taking a few months to work that particular issue out, however. For now, Maul's mother could be an invisible friend that others could not detect.

He sighed and turned around, scooping Maul off his perch on his shoulder and setting him in the middle of the living room floor. He also brought out the gift he had purchased in a nearby shop in Theed, a soft mottled brown stuffed shaak, and set it down in front of Maul, who picked the item up and examined it with great interest.

Palpatine smiled down at Maul as they sat on the plush red carpet together. The tiny red zabrak was now holding the stuffed shaak toy to his body and staring up at the Sith Lord, his expression thoughtful.

"Today, we're going to learn some new words," Palpatine said, his tone cheerful even as he felt a certain sadness at this. Until Maul was old enough to understand deception, he would have to believe that their facade was their true identity.

Palpatine chafed at this, because he wanted Maul to understand his own significance. His own importance. But that would have to wait. Palpatine would force himself to be patient, as he had been in so many other matters.

Still, he could not help the feeling of regret that welled up in him.

There was another reason, too, why this made him sad. But that reason also made him feel-it wasn't exactly happiness. He wasn't sure how to describe it, really. A connection, something that could survive even death. A memory.

It was time to begin. He pointed at Maul. "Maurice," he said. "Can you say-Maurice?"

Maul smiled at him. "Maul."

Palpatine smiled back, feeling a burst of pride and a tiny stab of pain on hearing him say his true name. At having to correct him. "Yes, you remembered that. But from now on, you'll be Maurice. Maurice."

Maul held out the stuffed shaak.

Palpatine laughed. "No, that's yours." He said, pushing the toy back towards Maul. He leaned forward, bringing his face closer to Maul's. "Maurice."

Maul smiled. "Maurice."

Palpatine gave him a bright smile, filled with approval. "Very good!"

And now, for the other piece of this deception. Obviously, Maul could not call him Master, but just as obviously, he would have to call him something. He paused, readying himself to project the calm he did not feel.

He had given this quite a lot of thought. And he had decided that under no circumstances did he want Maul to call him father, or anything related to that word. He didn't think he could be a father-he had never planned to be one. He had planned to one day stand alone, to be the Sith'ari, to dispense with the the Rule of Two and to become the sole embodiment of the Sith, destroyer of Jedi, conqueror of death, Emperor of the entire galaxy, and even beyond that, for his ambitions knew no bounds. None of that had involved any notion of an heir, even an Apprentice that might take him down. His Apprentice had been intended to serve him, not supplant him.

Now? He was unsure what his ultimate plans should be. He would have to restructure them from the ground up, decide what he truly wanted to accomplish.

But he did know one thing.

Palpatine wanted Maul to excel. He wanted Maul to share in his victories, as well as enjoy his own. To eventually exceed and surpass him.

But he had never planned to be a father, and his own father had certainly not given him any example worth passing on. And Plagueis? He would have to be disposed of, regardless of these new and inconvenient feelings for his Master. He hoped Maul would never wish to dispose of him in such a way.

He would not have Maul call him father.

He gave Maul a radiant smile and pointed to himself. "Pal."


	10. Plots and Plans

**A/N:** And now for the milestone 10th chapter! There's a lot going on here as these Sith Lords try to rearrange all their plans, haha! I've also created what I hope will seem like a sufficiently Star Wars-esque creature for the purpose of this chapter! I hope you will enjoy the introduction of the Sojourn wood vole! These tiny troublemakers will probably be turning up again later on...

* * *

Plagueis was eager to get started with his experiments. However, Hego Damask still had to contend with his other obligations during the day, one of which included tutoring his young protegee, San Hill.

But he had decided he could still make good use of this time.

Hego set his briefcase down on the silvery table in front of him and opened it. San walked in through the door as he removed flimsiplasts and a datapad from the briefcase. As Hego grabbed the last of the flimsiplasts, a small, grey furry six-legged creature with four eyes, a stubby tail, whiskers, and antennae leapt out of the case. A wood vole.

Startled, Hego dropped the sheaf of flimsiplasts he was holding, which fluttered to the floor. The wood vole scurried along the table, its tiny nose moving almost as furiously as its tiny feet. Hego grabbed it before it could leap off the edge.

"Looks like you picked up a hitchhiker," San remarked, stopping.

 _More like an escapee._ He recognized the creature-subject 312. He always remembered all of his experiments, after all.

San backed up against the far wall, regarding the wood vole with an anxious expression. "I'm just going to stand over here while you deal with that, ah, allergen." Hego was, of course, familiar with San's allergy to furred creatures.

Hego narrowed his eyes at the small mammaloid held firmly in his hand. "Certainly, San. I will dispose of this unauthorized presence," he said, grimacing. He walked to the door of the domed building and, opening it to the forested environs, plopped the wood vole on the path outside the door and quickly slammed it before the animal could scurry back inside. _Unauthorized creature disposed of_ , he thought smugly.

San, looking relieved, walked to the center of the room and settled behind the desk there, sneezing a couple times into a handkerchief. Hego walked back to the table at the front of the room and casually picked up the flimsiplasts scattered on the floor around it.

San clasped his hands on top of his desk. "All right. I'm ready to get started!"

Placing the flimsiplasts onto the table, Hego looked up. "Today, we're going to do something a bit different," he said, calling up three images of Muun brains with colored activity mappings onto the large holoscreen display above the table.

San's eyes widened. "Wow, I know we were discussing the psychology of stock purchases, but I didn't realize we were going to get quite this technical."

Hego laughed. "Oh, no, this is unrelated. You see, I thought you might help me with an experiment I'm running."

San's eyes lit up at that. "Really? I mean, sure!"

"Yes," Hego said. "I thought I'd start with something straightforward so you could familiarize yourself with the patterns. Tell me, what would you say about these brain activity scans?" He gestured a hand towards the row of three images on the holodisplay.

"They're all from entirely different people?" San said.

 _An unnerving observation._ Still, Hego had to admit he'd had the same thought, even knowing that two of them were his own. "Go on," Hego said.

"Wait, these were all induced from the same external stimuli, right?"

"A good detail to verify," Hego said, one corner of his mouth quirking upward. "The answer is yes."

"Alright, I'm trying to remember back to my introductory neuroscience classes-the brain structures look Muun."

"Correct," Hego said. "The middle scan is from a textbook image of the experiment I replicated-a baseline image showing a typical response. The other two are from volunteer data I acquired." Probably almost the only _volunteer_ data he had ever acquired. He had long had an interest in recording his own physiological data, especially information such as this.

"What's the experiment?"

"Inducing Sympathetic Emotional Responses," Hego said, bringing up the text abstract for the experiment. "The images represent responses to holorecordings of other sapients experiencing pain." He thought it fortunate that he'd long had an interest in this experiment and its numerous variations and so had a number of historical data points of his own brain activity to compare. It seemed extremely applicable to his current predicament.

"Intriguing!" San said.

"Indeed. Do you remember the functions of the different brain regions sufficiently to draw any conclusions here?"

"Sure," San said. "The one on the left is not having a sympathetic response," he said. "Whereas the one on the right is having an extremely strong response and-" he paused, frowning, "that's weird."

"What?"

"Er, a number of things, really. The one on the right shows unusual readings from a lot of the brain structures. Anyway, both are abnormal compared to the baseline image."

 _How true_. He called up another image aligned to the left underneath the other three.

"It's so tiny!" San said, laughing. "A human brain?"

"Yes," Hego said. An old image obtained from Sidious. He tapped a button on his pointer and another human brain, this one from a textbook, appeared to the right of it. Soon he planned to obtain another reading from Sidious - he simply hadn't gotten around to it yet. "The one on the right is the baseline. Do you remember the analogous human brain structures sufficiently to evaluate the response of the one on the left?"

"Oh, ah- yes, of course. This human is having a similar response to the Muun on the left, only not only are they not having a sympathetic response, but they're deriving significant pleasure from whatever painful experience they're viewing. Wow, is this one a serial killer or something?"

"I'd rather not give any details so as not to bias your responses," Hego said calmly. "I'd like to give you this data for further study, and I have a number of analyses I'd like you to perform on it. Do you think you are up to the challenge?" Hego felt increasing urgency to make sense of what the orbs, the-emotional additive, had done to him and Sidious, and he needed an assistant to help him analyze the data, especially since he would soon have a large amount of additional data from his new captives.

"Of course!" San said enthusiastically.

 _Excellent._ He could have asked Sidious, of course, but sadly his Apprentice did not seem to share his interest or aptitude with such things. To be fair, he was quite diligent at following through on any instructions he was given, but analysis, much less discovery, was another matter entirely.

San was rather young, but had demonstrated both great ability and flexibility in his academic talents. He also possessed considerably more intuition for these sorts of things than Sidious did. He was already far ahead for his age in all of his financial and business courses and Hego had simply been ensuring that he would be the unquestioned choice for replacing the current Chairman of the IGBC when the time came. He could afford to miss a few of those classes.

"Good," Hego said. "I look forward to evaluating your analysis." Yes, San's other lessons could wait. Right now, this task had priority.

* * *

Sidious heard the knock at the door. His visitor had been expected; had come here on his insistence, in fact.

Sidious scooped up Maul, who clung happily to his new stuffed toy. Then he walked over to the door and opened it.

"Vidar, please come in," Sidious said solemnly.

"Palpatine, I-," Vidar said, walking into the apartment and rubbing his hands together to warm them, his eyes immediately drawn to the small zabrak on Sidious' shoulder.

"I believe you had something of great import to tell me, my friend?" Sidious said. "Please, take a seat." He indicated an armchair next to a small table. Vidar dropped onto the chair, seeming endlessly burdened, though again he looked up at Maul.

"Palpatine, there's much we must discuss, but first I must know-why is there a baby alien on your shoulder?"

"He's a zabrak," Sidious said, "and my heir. Vidar, meet Maurice."

Vidar's eyes widened. "And the mother? Are you and she-?"

Sidious laughed. "You misunderstand, Vidar. Maurice is adopted. I haven't decided on how to go about finding a mother for him yet. But if that doesn't work out, I'm sure I can manage on my own. There's just the one of him, after all, and with adoption, there are never any-surprise extras."

Vidar gave him a baffled look, then laughed. It was the first time Sidious had seen him smile since the accident. He returned the smile.

"You weirdo," he said. "Still, I knew you'd eventually realize the importance of leaving a legacy. Even if this has got to be the strangest way of going about that I've ever seen."

"What can I say?" Sidious responded. "I defy the expectations of others."

"That you do," Vidar said, his expression becoming serious again. "Which is why I'm here today," he continued. "Because you may be one of the only people left that I can trust."

"What do you mean by that?" Sidious asked, knowing very well what he meant by it.

Vidar waved a hand expansively. "My family didn't die in an accident-they were murdered by none other than Veruna and Tapalo."

Sidious frowned, considering the man's ungroomed hair, his tired eyes. This was a man who was sick with grief. Sidious realized unhappily that he understood the feeling.

"You have evidence of this?" Sidious asked.

"I will," Kim said. He held out some flimsiplasts to Sidious, who took them without comment. "These are the reports of the 'accident' scene. I was hoping you might look at them- perhaps with your knowledge of speeders you will be able to pick out some suspicious detail."

"Of course," Sidious said, placing the documents on his desk.

"Even without that, I know enough about Veruna and Tapalo to oust them from power. And I know exactly who will help me with that, too."

"Who?"

"The Jedi Order."

Alarm flashed through Sidious. "The Jedi? How do you plan to gain an audience with them?"

"Ronhar," he said. "He will speak to them on my behalf, after I convince him to take his place as my heir."

Sidious gave him a stunned look.

"What? It's not like that's any stranger than what you've got going on here." he gestured towards Maul, who had begun chewing on his stuffed shaak's head.

Sidious tried every type of persuasion he could imagine to attempt to dissuade Vidar from going to the Jedi, of all people. But the man was determined to regain his son from them and gain their help to depose Veruna and Tapalo.

Sidious might use the Force instead to compel Vidar to do as he asked, but while that would be completely effective it would also surely damage him. While Jedi could only exert their weak and ephemeral but undamaging suggestion over others, Sidious only knew how to control a mind completely while slowly breaking its will and resolve. Neither of which would do in this case.

Of course it would be the Jedi Vidar would seek. Beings always thought that if only the Jedi were on their side, that if only they noticed their plight, then all things would become possible.

Sidious sighed. Again, he would defy Plagueis. This time, surely, his defiance would not go unpunished. But he had made up his mind. "Vidar, you're in terrible danger. If you are right about your family, they will stop at nothing to eliminate you, too."

"I will not be cowed by those slimy bottomfeeders! I have nothing left but my vengeance and it will not be denied!"

Sidious held out a hand in a placating gesture. "Alright, I understand how important this is to you." Suddenly a new approach occurred to him. "But consider the danger this would put Ronhar in."

"Ronhar? Nonsense, he'd surely be able to handle anything they could throw at him. He's a Jedi!"

"Even Jedi are not invincible," Sidious said. _Fortunately._

Doubt grew in Vidar's gaze. He crumpled back into the chair, deflating. "I can't lose him, too." He curled one hand into a fist. "But I can't just let this go! What can I do?"

"Simple. Tell me what you know, and let me contact the Jedi for you," Sidious said.

"You? You'd have even less chance of getting their ear, surely."

"On the contrary, Vidar, I know exactly how to get their attention."

* * *

A knock at the door. This time unexpected, but anticipated all the same. Sidious answered it. There was no one there. He waited several moments, then carefully closed the door.

As he turned to face the living room, he saw Talzin materialize from a green mist. She gave a vase of flowers to her right a disparaging look. Maul of course, also noticed her appearance. "Mama!" he said, holding out the stuffed shaak.

She turned and smiled at him. "And what do you have there, prickly pear?"

"Shaak!" Maul said.

Sidious smiled. "Very good, Maurice."

Talzin looked directly at Sidious, her nose wrinkling. "What?"

"His new name. It's Maurice."

Talzin crossed her arms. "And what, exactly, is wrong with Maul?"

"Nothing," Sidious said. "But it's not a very Naboo name. I do not want him to attract undue attention." He glanced at his tiny Apprentice. "Well, anymore than he already will."

Talzin rolled her eyes. "You should have consulted me. That is a terrible name."

Sidious frowned. "I'm not changing it."

"Shaak?" Maul said, holding out the mottled brown stuffed toy.

Talzin looked over at Maul. "Yes, very good, my little prickly pear. You are just as amazing and smart even with that abominable name Sidious gave you."

Sidious sighed. "And speaking of names, I'll ask you not use my Sith name with him."

She looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. "What am I to call you, then?"

"Most know me as Palpatine."

"Palpatine?" she said. "That's it? Just the one name?"

"Ah, not exactly. I don't use my first name often, though."

"But you have one."

"Yes."

"What is it, then?"

Sidious hesitated. "Sheev."

She grimaced. "So terrible names run in your family I see. Your parents gave you that name?"

"No," Sidious said. "My sister, actually. I suspect she never thought I'd really use it. It's-not my favorite, but it gave me something to put on the name-change forms."

"Your original name was worse than Sheev? I'll not ask what that was, then."

"Good."

Talzin seemed consider something. "I haven't had an opportunity to discuss my thoughts on Plagueis with you."

Sidious raised an eyebrow. "You mean you have other descriptors for him, besides pretentious?" Sidious had found that one amusing, but ultimately unhelpful for actually devising a plan to dispose of his Master.

Talzin laughed. "Of course-I was merely collecting my thoughts. It takes time, to reflect upon the measure of a person."

"All right. So what do you think? You attack from the front to distract him, then I stab him in the back with my saber?"

She rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean about that."

Sidious gave her a baffled look. "Then what did you mean?"

"I mean that he seemed to view you favorably. And to be disinclined to harm you. I am sure you know him better than I, but have you considered attempting persuasion before resorting to murder? Perhaps he might now listen to what you have to say?"

Sidious frowned. It wasn't as if the thought hadn't occurred to him. "And if he doesn't? It would warn him of my intent and rob me of any advantage. I assure you that what you see as pretension is in actuality self-knowledge-his confidence in his own abilities is entirely justified. The only way you and I could possibly defeat him is to take him by surprise."

"Do you want to kill him?"

Sidious scowled. "Yes. And no. But I know what needs to be done. For Maurice's sake, and that decides his fate."

Maul placed the stuffed shaak on top of Sidious' head.

Talzin sighed, though she gave Maul a small smile. "Alright. I'd simply prefer to avoid any conflicts I may not win. If, as you say, his arrogance is truly justified, I would hate to orphan Mau-my dear, sweet prickly pear."

"I won't let that happen," Sidious said calmly. "I simply need some time to plan an effective attack." Still, her words had caused him renewed concern. What if he was actually being overconfident in his belief that he could pull this off? And what if Talzin was right?

Talzin looked back to Maul. "I can give you a farseeing spell for an hour with-prickly pear."

Sidious tilted his head. "Agreed." It seemed a good deal. What he didn't say was that he would have let her hold Maul even if she hadn't offered anything in return. He found he rather enjoyed her company.

Not that he planned to admit that.

Still, he asked her if she wanted to accompany him to Coruscant when he planned to track down a Jedi on Vidar's behalf in two weeks' time. Unsurprisingly, Talzin expressed immediate interest.

It would be nice to have someone along he didn't have to dissemble to.


	11. Questionable Experimental Procedures

**A/N:** Here's another chapter featuring my favorite science-loving Sith Lord! I do enjoy writing Plagueis quite a lot.

Thanks to everyone who commented on the last chapter! And in general, thanks to everyone who has commented so far! I very much appreciate getting the chance to see other people's perspectives on the story!

* * *

"Here are the new blood samples, Magister," 11-4D said, handing Plagueis the vials. "And the brain scans you requested."

Plagueis began organizing the vials, looking intermittently at the flimsiplast brain scans of his current experimental subjects.

"Yes, these will do nicely, thanks," he said, pleased. "It seems you were successful in securing data from all the test subjects, FourDee."

"Yes, Magister. I assured them that I was not going to harm them, and that they would receive a meal of their choice on the completion of my instructions."

"I see you were quite successful," Plagueis remarked. "Especially given how-recalcitrant some of our subjects are."

"Yes, Magister. For several meals I fed all of them exclusively on nutrient rations which were selected to be both nutritionally complete and unappealing to most in their given species, as you instructed."

Plagueis smiled. "I suppose they must have found that-quite unpleasant."

"Yes, Magister."

Plagueis planned to also do as he had instructed FourDee, which was to incentivize his experimental subjects to respond to any necessary instructions to ensure he received maximally useful data.

When he finished with them, he would wipe their memories of him and this place and release them, tracking their behavior in real scenarios. But that would not be for a while now. First, it was time to get started with the main experiment.

He walked over to a centrifuge. He had used this device to separate the black orbs from the pond water. He had chosen to use injection as the method of delivery for the orbs, as he felt it would be the easiest and most reliable choice. But of course he did not want to inject his subjects with pond water. So he had had to remove that component.

He took the black material he had separated, sterilized it, then combined it with a simple saline solution carefully calibrated for each species he would be testing. According to his painstakingly considered theory, this should obtain equivalent results as ingestion. But he would soon find out, at any rate.

* * *

 _Voras the Hutt_

The Hutt gave him a terrified look upon seeing Plagueis approach with the hypodermic needle filled with black liquid.

"Agh, no! Please, I pay my taxes!"

Plagueis stopped and tilted his head. "Intriguing, but ultimately irrelevant to your current situation."

"Okay. But I-I'm pregnant!" he protested.

Plagueis blinked at what he could easily sense was a blatant lie. Of course, he knew such a possibility would not be considered unusual for one of the hermaphroditic Hutt species. He did not know if Voras had assumed him to be aware of this fact or had instead planned to delay him with some lengthy explanation, but regardless of such logistics, it was the implications such a remark made about his own motivations that troubled Plagueis.

"No, you are not, and again I am puzzled-did something in my manner give you the impression that I have scruples?" Though he had phrased the question rhetorically, part of him couldn't help wonder about the answer. Could his current weakness be detected by others? Or was this simply a desperate ploy, deemed unlikely to work but worth trying in a situation with nothing left to lose?

"I-I have money! Release me and I can-"

Plagueis smiled. "Ah, finally, I understand your thought process here! Unfortunately for you, your money is of little interest to me, and certainly not enough to convince me to forgo you as a test subject."

Voras deflated, clearly disappointed that his attempts to talk his way out of his situation had failed. "What is that, anyway?" the Hutt asked anxiously, his eyes fixed on the hypodermic.

Plagueis shrugged. "Some sort of drug."

"And what does it do?"

"I prefer not to say. But I will say that what interests me are the psychological responses. It doesn't appear to cause any physical harm."

This seemed to mollify Voras somewhat.

"Why me?"

"You will see," Plagueis said.

"My guess is that this is not the kind of experiment you get volunteers for. Which I find...concerning."

Plagueis uncapped the hypodermic. "Oh, I don't know," he said. "You might be surprised what some beings will volunteer for. But such an approach was not very compatible with the timeframe or the secrecy I require." He approached the Hutt slowly.

Voras, of course, tried to move away, but found he could not. His eyes widened in alarm.

"What-?"

Plagueis smiled. He was using his Force power to restrain the Hutt now. "I anticipated your response this time, Voras."

Voras looked away. "I'm not looking forward to this."

Plagueis jabbed the hypodermic in the Hutt's side.

"Ah, but I am," The Sith Lord said. He held up his datapad. "Now, I have a few questions for you..."

* * *

 _Pirate Man, Type Unspecified_

"She's gonna find you," the Weequay man said. "And she's gonna kill you."

Plagueis had to admit, he found the man's intensity more than a little disturbing.

"I think you are mistaken about that," Plagueis said. He took out the hypodermic needle. The Weequay looked over at it.

"She's gonna find you," he said again. "And she's gonna kill you."

Plagueis walked up to the man and pressed the hypodermic in his shoulder. The Weequay man watched dispassionately as he completed the injection.

Plagueis brought up his datapad. He would try to get some initial data now. "If you would like to comment on what you are feeling at the moment-"

"She's gonna find you," the man said. "And she's gonna kill you."

"I see," Plagueis said, noting the response. "Fascinating."

* * *

 _Rizlus Arcturus_

"I demand to be released at once!" the man growled on seeing Plagueis.

"I'm afraid that won't be happening," Plagueis said.

"Black Sun will make you pay for this!"

"Unlikely," Plagueis said. "You really aren't that important to them." Of course, they _would_ look into it, more on principle than anything else, but they would stop when they found the end of the false trail Plagueis had laid. The Sith Lord had been quite careful about covering his real tracks.

"You'll regret this, Mak Plain!"

"I doubt it," Plagueis said, smiling at the fake name. He took out the hypodermic, and his captive's eyes widened.

"What's wrong with you?!"

"A question I'd like to know the answer to myself," Plagueis said, before injecting the man with the hypodermic.

* * *

 _Plin Rov_

"Hello," Plagueis said cheerfully. The man rose to a sitting position on the long bench attached to the wall, looking sullen and bruised. Sidious had not been gentle with him, but then Plagueis had not asked him to be.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

"Just a simple scientist who needed some experimental subjects," Plagueis said. "Would you like to describe what you do?"

"I kill people painfully for fun," the man said.

"And-your occupation?" Plagueis asked. "How do you make money?"

The man blinked. "I kill people for fun. I take their money when they're dead."

"Noted," Plagueis said. He typed the information into his datapad. _Plin Rov, postmortem thief, human, age 27, warrant for arrest in Republic space._

"What's going on here? Am I being executed? I get a last meal, right? I mean, the one earlier didn't count-"

"No, Mr. Rov," Plagueis said. "You are not being executed."

"Life in prison, then?" He looked around. "I don't remember a trial. Is this solitary?"

"This is not a prison," Plagueis said. "This is an illegal research facility."

Plin stared at him. "Oh," he said. "That's-unexpected. What are you researching?"

Plagueis took out a hypodermic, checking the labelling. "This. I am hoping to study your psychological responses to being injected with this substance."

"Oh," Plin said. "Sounds boring. Can I opt-out?"

"No."

"I guess I should have expected that."

* * *

 _Aritar Vizago_

"Ugh," Aritar said. "What's this about?" He looked around nervously. "And where's that crazy freak from earlier?"

"Do you mean the man who captured you? He is not here."

"Good," Aritar said. "I'm still getting headaches from being stun-blasted in the face by him. Hope you're not going to do that to me again."

"No," Plagueis said, taking out the hypodermic needle.

Aritar's eyes widened. "What's that?"

"A drug I'm testing," Plagueis said.

"Really? Anything good?"

"It's not recreational, if that's what you mean," Plagueis answered.

Aritar scowled. "You're as bad as your crazy freak friend, then."

"Yes, I suppose many would describe me as unpleasant," Plagueis said, injecting the mixture into the Devaronian.

* * *

 _The Dissector_

"Oh, it's you again," the man said, looking up at Plagueis. "You some sort of Jedi enforcer?"

Plagueis shook his head. "No. I am force sensitive, but I am no Jedi, nor do I work for the government."

"So-then are you a vigilante? Is this where you tell me the error of my ways and execute me messily?"

"Hmmm, no, I would not describe what I'm doing here as vigilantism, though it is doubtless illegal. You are here as a participant in my research."

"So now you're going to poke and prod me, then," The Dissector laughed. "How ironic."

"This does not disturb you?"

"In an abstract sort of way, I suppose," the man said. "But it is also rather amusing."

"What is your occupation?" Plagueis asked.

"My day job? I'm a accountant. Boring job, but it pays the bills, and buys my-essential equipment."

"Thank you," Plagueis said, recording the information in his datapad. Then he took out a hypodermic needle.

"Ooo, what's that?"

"A drug," Plagueis replied.

"Exciting," the Dissector said, tilting his head at it. "What's it do?"

"It causes a number of psychological changes," Plagueis said. "I am studying the effects." He paused. "It is not recreational in nature."

"I'll be the judge of that," the Dissector replied. "When do we start?"

"Now," Plagueis said. He didn't think he'd ever seen a test subject look so enthusiastic. He almost felt a bit bad about it, to be honest.

Almost.

* * *

Plagueis had visited all the rest of the criminals and had given them the injection of the emotional additive.

Now all that was left was his final subject. He stood in front of his last captive's cell.

 _Mak Plain, Muun, 158, mid-level IGBC banker_ , Plagueis thought. He eyed the currently unconscious captive. Yes, this one would be especially useful to him. Not only was Plain a Muun, but he possessed a number of other qualities that Plagueis found particularly relevant for this study. Plagueis had collected quite a bit of information on him over the years in the service of his eventual planned takeover of the IGBC via San Hill.

What made him such a good test subject was that Plain's resume was anything but plain. War profiteering in the Yinchorri crisis, extensive lobbying to remove the public safety restrictions on the Trade Federation, and of course, maneuvering his predecessor into an early death to secure himself an office on Coruscant. He was an ambitious individual who was unafraid to step over the bodies of others in the pursuit of his goals. Metaphorically, of course.

But unlike the Sith Lord's other subjects, Plain had never been on the wrong side of the law, had never even gotten so much as a ticket for a traffic violation. Even the murder of his predecessor had been done in such a way that a prosecutor would never be able to make a case against him in a court of law. Quite brilliant, really.

Plagueis still would have preferred holding the current IGBC Chairman. Now _he_ would have been an ideal subject for this experiment, and of course there was nothing more satisfying than addressing a personal grudge. Unfortunately, Chairman Tonith was a bit too high profile for his purposes. His disappearance would undoubtedly lead to questions, and a rigorous search by his large and well-heeled family.

Whereas Plain had no such close relations, and for all his ladder-climbing, a rather low profile that ensured few would notice or remark upon his disappearance.

He had chosen all his current captives with such considerations in mind, but nowhere was it more important than here, with the victim so close to home.

He woke his unconscious captive with a small trickle of Force lightning. Plain twitched, his eyes fluttering open.

"Magister Damask?" Plain said on seeing him, bewildered.

"Yes, that would be me," Plagueis said.

"What are you doing?!" he growled, futilely attempting to tug his arms out of the energy restraint Plagueis had activated. "This is exceedingly illegal! You can't just go kidnapping business rivals!"

Plagueis smiled. "You should thank me for that, really."

"Thank you?" Plain asked, scowling. "Why?"

"You see-I kind of-may have-possibly-put you on Black Sun's hit list."

"What?!" Plain's yellow eyes stared at him in shock.

"Yes, I see you understand the gravity of your situation now. So think of this as a, hmm, sort of protection program."

Plain narrowed his eyes. "So you put me on their hit list, and now you're protecting me from them? I see the motivation for the first act, if not the legality, but not the incentive for the second."

Plagueis laughed. "Ah, yes! I should explain. You see, I run biological experiments as a hobby of mine and I required an additional test subject. That's you."

Plain's eyes narrowed, and his lower lip curled in disgust. "You are a sick, sick man."

"I know," Plagueis said. He pulled out a hypodermic needle, and with a bright smile said, "Now, let's get started."


	12. Preparations for Travel

So here's the new chapter!

Thanks to everyone who's commented on AO3 and ffnet since the last chapter! And thanks so much to Quantumphysica and anonymous (my new Tumblr friend!) who's commented on every chapter so far! It makes me really happy to know there are people invested enough in this story to write so many comments on it! And I love talking to you!

Sidious gets ready for his trip to Coruscant, and the threads of his new plans begin to unfold...

* * *

Sidious held the flask in his hand. He didn't really need it. Not anymore. He'd already tried to drink it. Again. But that hadn't worked. _The pond chooses._ He scowled. _Ridiculous._

He would just hold onto it for now.

He placed it back on the shelf in the storage facility.

He'd reluctantly had the Sith relics he stored in his apartment moved here, where they would stay until the completion of his current plan. He would have liked to store them somewhere closer, but that would pose a risk of their detection.

He looked around at the space, a windowless boxy room the size of a warehouse, filled with dusty books, datapads, and artwork. When he'd sold the Convergence estate, he'd sold most of his family's possessions along with it. Money had been of considerably greater interest to him than his family's furniture or assorted knicknacks, after all.

But there had been some items he'd considered valuable enough to keep. Certain pieces of artwork, certain books, and most importantly, every personal document and record anyone in his family had ever accumulated, all of it meticulously sorted and organized.

It hadn't been an act of sentimentality. Rather, he'd anticipated that his family's accumulated connections and knowledge might someday be of value to accomplishing his own goals. He'd had occasion to use some of it already.

He even had some of Ricar's old drawings and effects, something which he'd kept in case he'd ever wanted to follow up on an...idle curiosity of his. He picked up the rock Ricar had given him once, turning it over in his hand, then placed it back on its shelf.

Next to Ricar's single shelf was a much larger set of bookcases filled with Milena's records, books, and journals. His sister had expressed an early interest in politics, but had been forced by their father into dance, an area of study Cosinga had said was 'more befitting a lady of their house'.

Palpatine snorted. Cosinga had tried to mold his eldest daughter into something she would clearly never be. And when all had been said and done, he'd only delayed the inevitable.

 _"Hey, looks like we'll both be attending the same university, Sheev," Mil said. They were outside, seated in a gazebo near the lake for which the Convergence estate was named. Mil was examining a flimsiplast on top of her datapad that Palpatine assumed to be an acceptance letter._

 _Palpatine raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were to attend the Theed School of Theatre?"_

 _Mil smiled, though the expression didn't reach her eyes. "Oh, yes, that. The thing is, ballet is somewhat lacking in fulfilling my career goals. Playing Queen Yram on the stage isn't really comparable to a political science track, I feel."_

 _"You enrolled in the same major Father is forcing me to take?" Palpatine frowned._

 _"Of course," Mil said. "If you're going to end up a politician one day,_ someone _has to stop you."_

 _Palpatine rolled his eyes. "Presuming I ever finish my education."_

 _Mil narrowed her own eyes. "You expect me to believe that you won't? That you plan to drop out? And do what?"_

 _Palpatine shrugged. "Maybe I'll become a racer."_

 _"You, a racer? You, who said that seeking the Naboo monarchy would be beneath you, are going to drop out of school and become a racer?"_

 _A sudden breeze passed through the gazebo._

 _"I never said racing was beneath me." He leaned back on the wooden paneling. "Anyway, how are you doing this?" He knew she had to have gone behind Father's back._

 _"It was easy to get accepted-I have top marks in the Legislative Youth Program. But I needed to change my concentration, and my university-and I've finally figured it all out."_

 _"That still doesn't explain how you're doing this."_

 _"You're not the only one who can forge documents," Mil said. She pulled a leaf out of her hair that had been blown into the gazebo and glanced down at her datapad._

 _Palpatine laughed. "The forgeries! I believe that was the 134th time Father threatened to disown me. Ah, I remember the special camp for troubled teens he sent me to after that. It's a tricky business, forgery."_

 _"You can tell me what to watch out for, then. You aren't going to snitch, are you?"_

 _"What, and help Father? No, of course not. You're going to need more than a few fake documents changing hands to pull this off, though."_

 _She grimaced. "Don't I know it."_

Sidious stared at the dusty datapads and flimsiplasts arranged in front of him. _She would have made an ambitious politician..._

He sighed, and turned away. It would help nothing to dwell on such matters.

He lingered then on the shelves containing his mother's effects. She hadn't really kept a journal or anything of that sort. She had saved most of the letters she'd received, however. His mother's life had been heavily defined by Cosinga. When she'd expressed any political opinion at all, it had been one approved in advance by Cosinga. When Cosinga made decisions about his children's lives, she had never shown any resistance to them. In this she had disappointed him time and time again.

And yet. She had not simply been a moon orbiting his father. As she had proven to him many times as well, most notably with the gift of the Sith artifact. The book which, alone among his Sith relics, rested on these shelves now. His eyes settled on the ancient glyphs embossed on the binding:

 _Sith Alchemy Vol 4 by Sorzus Syn_

He'd never mentioned the book to Plagueis. It had become a source of amusement to him. Plagueis possessed the other six volumes but had never been able to track this one down. It contained information on the creation and behavior of hybrids created from disparate animal species-A topic Plagueis would have found of great interest, he was sure. But the book belonged to Sidious, and he'd had no intention of giving it up, ever. And even less so now.

It reminded him of her. Of her smile whenever she sensed he was pleased, of her tending to his bruises after his bitter fights with Father...

He felt a sudden sense of overwhelming loss. Standing in the presence of these items had never affected him this way before. He glanced over at the rows of shelves devoted to Markon and Mayelle before looking away.

He scowled. Was he really doing this? Wallowing in these sickening feelings of sorrow, of remorse? What he wouldn't give to turn it all off.

But then he would be a danger to Maul.

He sighed again. There would be time to reminisce later. He would return to this place once he'd completed the execution of his current plan.

But he needed to finish his preparations. Yes, it was time to leave.

He had an assassin to hire.

* * *

Sidious stood with his arms crossed in the subbasement he'd had built under his apartment, wearing a generic cowl. The cowl was merely decorative-he'd digitally blanked out his face along with his voice-but even if it wasn't his Sith robe, it seemed appropriate for this sort of skulking.

"Well?" the Sith Lord asked. "Will you do it?"

"How many credits, again?" the assassin's voice was soft, almost a whisper.

"1 million," Sidious repeated, his own voice terse.

"3 million, and not a credit less."

"May I ask why?" Sidious had already offered twice the man's usual fee.

"You want me to kill Ambassador Palpatine, correct?"

"Yes."

"Man who murders the the Orphaned Lord is going to be an unpopular man around these parts," the assassin said. "Man's going to have to move away. Man's going to miss Naboo." He said the last part resentfully.

Sidious felt a pang of annoyance. This wouldn't have been an issue if he had hired a Core assassin. Unfortunately, it was necessary in this case to work with this more local underworld denizen, for whom he would be a bit of a minor celebrity due to his family's abrupt and well-publicized deaths.

"If you're really so worried that you'll be identified, why not conceal your face?"

"I plan to," the assassin said. "But if I stay here, someone will find me eventually. That's the way of these things. I'll have you know, this is a terrible idea for you, too, stranger."

"But you'll do it?"

"For 3 million credits, yes."

"Then we have a deal," Sidious said.

"If I may ask-why are you doing this? Did he spite you in some way?"

"Is there a reason you wish to know?" Sidious said, though he had counted on this question being asked.

"Yes, I need to know what kind of death you require."

"Any, but it is imperative you carry it out in the time and place we discussed, and with no additional casualties. It's not personal. He's become a political liability," Sidious said. "You don't need to know the details."

"You're right. I don't. I will contact you when the deed is done." The assassin's hologram flickered then, and was gone.

Sidious smiled. Now all that was left for him was to pack for Coruscant. He was looking forward to this trip.

* * *

Sidious was packing a suitcase on his desk with Maul seated next to it. Talzin was standing next to him, watching him fold clothes and pile datapads into the suitcase.

"Have you ever seen Coruscant?" Sidious asked.

"No," Talzin said. "This is the first time I have left Dathomir."

Sidious looked over at her. "I could guess that, but I was wondering if you'd ever seen holos. Or pictures."

"No."

Sidious handed her a datapad. "In that case, you'll want to read up on it."

She looked down at it. "What do I do with this?"

Sidious was silent a moment, surprised by the question. _Though I shouldn't be_ , he thought. _Dathomir is a wretched place._ "Give it to Maurice," he said.

She placed the datapad in front of Maul, who activated the screen and began to press merrily on the front of it.

"Maurice, can you find the Holonet?" Sidious asked cheerily.

Maul tapped the screen and a display showing the galaxy came up.

"Very good!" Sidious said.

"You've taught him well," she said.

"He learns quickly," Sidious replied. "You can give the datapad voice commands or type with the virtual keypad-see demonstration below." He gestured towards Maul, who was smiling widely and typing a random combination of Aurebesh characters.

"Though I don't think he's quite gotten the hang of the written word yet," Sidious noted.

As Talzin leaned over the datapad with Maul, Sidious returned to packing and considering the plan he had developed. This would be his first time meeting Jedi, which he viewed as an important test of his Force masking abilities. If they sensed anything amiss in him, things could get-messy.

But it was also an opportunity. It was time to test the ability of the Jedi to perceive him. He thought it unfortunate that he wouldn't have control over which Jedi he encountered in this case, but at least he felt confident that the Order wasn't going to send someone like Yoda to meet with an obscure dignitary like himself. If things went badly, he had arranged to give himself ample opportunity to rectify the issue. Though hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Sidious pondered also his plan to address Vidar's thorny situation. He knew, of course, that Vidar was right. King Tapalo had had his entire family murdered. He also knew that Vidar was in danger of ending up that way, too, unless something was done.

And he certainly knew that the Jedi were not the solution to this problem. They were, however, a necessary component of his plan.

"The Jedi Temple is enormous," Talzin commented. She was regarding the datapad with a frown.

"Yes, approximately 50,000 Jedi reside in the Temple at any one time," Sidious said, reciting the fact from memory.

"Fifty thousand Jedi." Talzin said, placing a hand over her heart. She looked up at him, wide eyed. "We are massively outnumbered."

Sidious shrugged. "That is of no consequence. The Sith no longer rely on numbers to overpower our foes." He looked over at her. "Of course, _someone_ has upset the current plan," he said, giving her a significant look,"but I am working on a new one." He folded a set of his ambassador robes. "One day, I _will_ destroy the Jedi."

"Jedi," Maul said, looking up at him from the datapad.

Sidious looked down at him. "Yes, Maurice. Do you know what a Jedi is?"

"Jedi?"

"Jedi are ineffectual, sanctimonious fools," he said, smiling down at Maul. "Can you say 'ineffectual'?"

"In-fect-uall."

Sidious patted the toddler carefully on his spiky head. "Good, good."

"I must wonder why you are contacting these Jedi. Surely it is too early to strike at them." Talzin crossed her arms.

"It is," Sidious said. "But I have no intention of striking at them yet. This is merely an observational mission, intended to further my long-term plans."

 _But also to help Vidar, which greatly complicates my long-term plans._ He looked worriedly at Maul. He of course planned to leave Maul with Talzin while he met with the Jedi. She would explore Coruscant with Maul while he implemented the most complicated part of this plot.

That part of his plan would be far too risky to involve Maul in, even with all the additional safeguards he'd put in place.

"And what are your long term plans?"

"I could ask the same of you," Sidious replied.

Talzin laughed. "That's fair." She lifted Maul off the desk and held him to her chest. Sidious looked over at her briefly, but raised no objection.

"I must admit," she said, "despite the appalling number of Jedi who reside there, I am looking forward to seeing Coruscant."

"Yes, it is quite an exceptional place," Sidious said. He smiled. One day, he would destroy the Jedi, and take Coruscant for himself. Or give it to Maul, if he wanted it.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

He looked up, frowning. Who would be visiting him at this time of night?


	13. Visitors in the Night

A\N: Looks like I finished another chapter!

Thanks to everyone who's commented since last time! And thanks to my beta-reader for doing such amazing work so quickly!

Time for Sidious to find out who's at the door!

* * *

Sidious approached the door cautiously and looked through the peephole. He looked over at Talzin, narrowing his eyes. "I believe you may be familiar with our visitors."

She smiled. "I may."

Sidious scowled and then turned and opened the door. Two Nightsisters stood outside. One was a heavyset red zabrak woman in armor, the other a tall, thin near-human with black hair and green eyes dressed in red and black robes. They stared at him expectantly.

He gave them his best fake Ambassador smile, in case anything or anyone might be watching, though he thought that unlikely.

"Ah, of course, my midnight meeting," he said cheerfully. "Please, do come inside." Internally his thoughts ran along a very different course. _Just what exactly is Talzin up to?_ he thought with some irritation. He didn't recall extending an open invitation to the entirety of Dathomir to visit him here, and he'd certainly never seen either of these two in his life.

After he closed the door, he stood in front of them and narrowed his eyes. Blue electricity crackled at the tips of his fingers. "Is there a reason I shouldn't blast both of you so far into Chaos your constituent atoms will cease to exist?"

Talzin's voice answered from his right. "I would ask you not to. I invited them here, after all," she said.

"That's right," the armored zabrak said. "We're with her." She smiled and waved over at Talzin and Maul.

Sidious continued to glare at the two unknown Nightsisters. "I already guessed that. Whatever Talzin may have told you, you are not welcome here. This is _my_ domain-leave or suffer the wrath of a Sith Lord."

The armored zabrak crossed her arms. "We do not recognize your authority, Sith. Also, we greatly outnumber you. Concede defeat."

The other Nightsister also crossed her arms and nodded.

 _Never_ , he thought. His narrowed eyes flitted towards Talzin, who stood to his right, holding Maul.

"You invited them. To my apartment."

"Yes, that's what I said," she replied, giving Maul his stuffed shaak.

"And did you ever consider asking my opinion on the matter?"

"Not when you already agreed to allow it," Talzin said, shrugging her red-robed shoulders.

Sidious scowled. He recalled no such thing. He would have words with her about that, but first...

He narrowed his eyes at the pair. "Who are they?"

"My lieutenants, of course. Atherion and Dremra. Maybe you Sith really enjoy that lone wolf aesthetic, but we Nightsisters hunt in packs."

"And just how much of your-pack did you invite here?" Sidious asked.

"Oh, do stop your worrying, Palpatine. I know they won't all fit in here. It's just those two."

Sidious breathed a slight sigh of relief.

"I told the other five to camp outside."

There was a moment of utter silence. "What?!"

* * *

"Invisibly, of course," Talzin clarified. "They will camp invisibly. Not to worry, I have factored in your requirements for stealth."

All things considered, she thought the introductions had gone fairly well. No one had actually tried to murder anyone, at least.

Sidious's eyes were currently acid yellow, however. She'd noticed that they seemed to change between that color and a sort of faded blue, depending on his mood or desire for concealment. It was some sort of Sith-specific trait, of which she was quite curious about. Though she decided that now would not be a good time to ask about it.

"Were they hiding on my ship too?!"

Talzin laughed. "Of course not. I hired a pilot to bring them here."

"What made you think I would be okay with this?" Sidious hissed.

Talzin stared at him. "It doesn't violate the agreement."

"Agreement? What agree-" Sidious paused. "Oh. _OH_." his eyes widened, and he groaned and put a hand to his face.

Talzin tilted her head, watching him with interest.

Slowly, the hand edged down from his face and he looked up, his eyes blue again and accompanied by an obviously fake smile. "Alright. That-that's true. It doesn't violate the agreement." He held up a finger. "Addendum to the agreement: you do not invite roommates to my apartment without my permission."

"In the future, I will ask. But do not dismiss their value to you-they are here to help," Talzin said.

"Help? With what?" Sidious said, regarding the two Nightsisters with a skeptical expression.

"Protecting Maul. Defeating the Jedi." She paused. "Atherion is a master healer and expert on the arcane, and Dremra is an unparalleled warrior. And as Mau-prickly pear's aunts, they will protect him just as I would. The others can also assist with protecting Maul, fighting Jedi, or dealing with your master, should it come to that."

Sidious glanced over at the two Nightsisters, apparently considering this new information. Finally, his expression settled into a reasonably non-murderous annoyance.

"They can stay." He narrowed his eyes. "But no more surprises. Are we clear?"

"Certainly," Talzin said, pleased. She turned to Dremra and Aetherion and smiled. It had been awhile since she'd seen either of them, but of course she had arranged to remedy that issue. Her own plans depended on their help. And she had missed the company of her friends.

Dremra turned to Atherion and began signing an explanation when Talzin heard a familiar sound.

* * *

Sidious heard his comm. There was only one person who would be calling him at this time of night. He shooed the Nightsisters away from him, reluctantly allowing Talzin to take Maul this time. Then he answered the comm.

"Master," Sidious said.

"Sidious," Plagueis said, dressed not in his Sith robes, or even his business clothing, but in a lab coat and goggles, his expression clearly excited. "I have made a discovery!"

"Oh," Sidious said, quietly panicking. "You have found a way to reverse the effects of the Font?"

"No," Plagueis said. "But I have discovered how to tap into its power."

"Really?" Sidious said with interest. "I thought you said it did not increase one's power."

"A misconception," Plagueis said. "The problem was that I was performing the tests identically to my previous tests."

"Isn't that-how they should be done?"

"Yes, but I realized that I misunderstood the nature of the test itself." The hologram of Plagueis laughed. "Quite obvious on reflection, really."

"Perhaps you could explain?" Sidious asked, perplexed but intrigued.

"Of course. You see, I was using the same emotional inputs to fuel my power as always. The tests were not therefore testing my entire potential, but only my abilities as sourced from those motivations. Which did test the full extent of my power previously. But I have found this emotional additive produces emotional responses that source much greater power. Up to 1.3 times as powerful, from what I have seen so far."

"Oh," Sidious said. "That's good to know." So Talzin had been correct after all. For once he was interested in replicating one of Plagueis's experiments. Very interested indeed.

"Yes!" Plagueis said. "It certainly bears further investigation. Also, I would like to obtain a new brain scan from you for my research. Perhaps you could drop by sometime soon?"

"Apologies," Sidious said. "My ambassadorial duties currently prevent that."

"Oh," Plagueis said. "Unfortunate, but there is no hurry. Drop by when you can."

"Of course, Master," Sidious said.

"Thank you," Plagueis said. "Oh! And there is an urgent matter which we must discuss as well."

"Yes?"

"Vidar Kim," Plagueis said.

"Of course," Sidious said, feeling both relief and disappointment at once. A part of him had hoped that Plagueis had simply forgotten about Vidar. The other part had been hoping for his Master's orders to initiate the assassination, so he could muster sufficient resentment towards Plagueis to feel at ease when the time came to push him through the doors of death.

It would be difficult enough to kill the Sith Master given his skill in the Dark Side alone. Plagueis was an expert at all forms of lightsaber combat, though the art bored him profoundly. But more importantly, his ability and knowledge in the Force would make him a truly terrifying opponent. Sidious didn't need to suffer all these doubts as well.

"I no longer think it is necessary to kill Vidar," Plagueis said.

"What," Sidious replied.

 _No, no, that's not what you're supposed to say_ , Sidious thought angrily. _Order me to kill him!_

"You will become Senator in due time," Plagueis said. "Anyway, Bon Tapalo has become too complacent, and I think killing Vidar would send him the wrong message."

"The King is very sure of his place," Sidious agreed, wondering where Plagueis could be going with this.

Plagueis grinned. "Which is why you're going to abduct his supporter Veruna instead. I will send you the details of the plan."

"What am I to do with Veruna afterwards?" Sidious asked.

"Bring him to me," Plagueis said.

"What do you have planned for him?"

Plagueis smiled. "New experimental subject."

"Oh. I will retrieve him for you at the earliest opportunity, then," Sidious said, cursing the terrible feeling of hope that had surfaced in him.

"Thank you." Plagueis tilted his head, frowning. "Apologies for contacting you at this hour. I just realized it must be rather late on Naboo, and I know you still require sleep."

"Not a problem," Sidious said. "I was working anyway."

Plagueis smiled. "I'll let you get back to that, then. I will keep you updated on any important developments in my research."

"Thank you, Master."

When Plagueis cut the connection, Sidious took a deep breath. That had gone-unexpectedly. He needed to meditate on it. But first, he needed to modify his plans to account for these extra Nightsisters.

He looked up and frowned at the three Nightsisters, reserving a more tender smile for Maul. He turned his gaze to the two new arrivals.

"So, you want to fight Jedi, do you?"

"Yeah!" Dremra said.

"That's too bad. We'll be having tea with them instead."

Dremra gave him an outraged look. "What kind of Sith are you?!"

Sidious crossed his arms. "The living kind. We cannot win a direct confrontation against an enemy who so greatly outnumbers us. So we must strike quietly, long after they've dismissed us as being no threat to them. But first, we must study them, and identify their weaknesses."

"Over tea," Dremra said, her eyes narrowed.

"Yes."

Atherion began gesticulating to Dremra, and Drema responded with similarly detailed gestures. Maul, being held by Talzin, watched the two nightsisters from behind his stuffed shaak.

Sidious tilted his head. They were communicating with some sort of sign language. Probably a Dathomirian variant which would be all but unknown off-planet.

Which meant they could be plotting to kill him right now and he wouldn't know it. Also, he supposed it meant that Aetherion was deaf. And possibly plotting to kill him right now.

He waited patiently to see what they would do.

Finally, Dremra and Aetherion looked back over at him. "What about Maul?" Dremra asked.

Sidious looked over at his tiny heir. An idea had occurred to him, and as much as he disliked it, he also had to admit its practicality.

Maul would be safer on Naboo than Coruscant. He couldn't help thinking of the danger Maul had been in on Sriluur. There he had also planned for Maul to be far away when the dangerous part of his plot was enacted, but things had not gone as planned.

"You will have ample opportunity to reintroduce yourself to your nephew while Talzin and I visit Coruscant to find ourselves some Jedi. Oh, and his name is Maurice now."

It seemed he had found Maul some suitable babysitters after all.

Of course, this might be an attempt to take Maul from him, but if so, he would simply retrieve his small Apprentice. He did not judge them to be dangerous to Maul at any rate, and that was what was important. There would be consequences if they tried any such thing, though.

For one, he would be banning all Nightsisters from his apartment.


	14. Are We There Yet?

I finally finished writing this chapter and thanks to my excellent beta reader I am now ready to post it! Thanks to everyone for their comments!

In this chapter, Sidious and Talzin spend some quality time together as they travel to Coruscant.

* * *

Sidious stared out the viewport at the blue of hyperspace. It would be nearly a week before they arrived at Coruscant. He had just used his ability of foresight to look ahead at his meeting with the Jedi. The future had not solidified yet, and each vision seemed to show him different Jedi.

No matter. It wasn't who they were that was important to him. He did note that they always sent a pair rather than a single Jedi-often a padawan and their Master, but sometimes a knight and their former Master, or a Master and their former Master.

Sidious found the Jedi hierarchy needlessly complex, with its multitude of masters, Council, grandmaster, knights, and padawans.

Though he had to admit, he didn't have any intention of continuing the Sith Rule of Two. Perhaps he would kill Plagueis, but he would not force Maul to kill him to become a Sith Master.

Sidious would have to remould the Sith into something else. Of course, he didn't care for the idea of emulating the Jedi, but he was sure he could think up a different way to organize the new Sith Order that required neither adopting Jedi dogma nor continuing the Rule of Two. He could get ideas from the old Sith, and perhaps-even the Nightsisters.

Suddenly, as if his thoughts had summoned her, Talzin walked into the room and took the copilot's seat next to his. "I wonder about it," she said abruptly.

"About what?"

"Why hyperspace is blue," she responded.

Sidious waved a hand. "Radiation-something-something-emissions-blah-blah-blah. Plagueis would probably know. Why? Do you have plans to manipulate hyperspace with the Force?" Sidious had thought about how useful just such an ability could be, from time to time. But such a thing would require considerably more power and experience than he had now.

"No, just idle curiosity. Though perhaps the answer to the question could help accomplish that too."

Sidious laughed. "I suppose. Knowledge is power, and all that. But I've always thought that knowing what other people are thinking is much more valuable than knowing why the universe works the way it does. The latter is largely predictable, yet requires immense resources to bend to one's will, but people are full of surprises, yet their intent can be influenced by nothing more elaborate than words."

"Yet you still seek knowledge on how to increase your power in the Force."

"Of course. Sometimes it pays to know how to influence the universe a bit. But my power in the political sphere is even more important. Without that my Force powers would be little more than amusingly deadly parlor tricks."

"Is that how you plan to bring down the Jedi? With politics?" Talzin looked dubious.

Palpatine sighed, laying back in his seat. "Partly, yes. To tell the truth, I was going to see what Plagueis planned to do. He's been at this for much longer than I have."

"That sounds reasonable."

"Only now that's going to be difficult, since I have to kill him as soon as possible."

"Are you sure of that?"

"I would like to be." Plagueis had not seemed interested in killing off Vidar as he'd assumed, and in general seemed to be more open and...caring. But Plagueis could not be allowed to find a way to reverse the effects of the Font, which Sidious was sure he would manage to do if allowed to live. He abruptly changed the subject.

"Your Nightsister friends, perhaps you can tell me more about them." Really, he was interested in knowing more about her, but he wasn't going to say that. "Your two lieutenants-you said they are Maul's aunts. So, are they your sisters?"

She blinked. "Yes."

Realizing that the word 'sister' in this context might have multiple meanings besides the intended, he decided to clarify his question. "Perhaps I should refine my wording," Sidious said. "Are either of them your blood relatives?"

"Ah! No. Dremra is the blood sister of Maul's late father, and Atherion is her spouse. As is common among Nightsisters, both of them were originally exiles of different Light Witch clans. They met before they joined my clan."

"Ah. So, they are your sister-in-law, and your sister-in-law-in-law."

"I suppose," she said, frowning. "Though your choice of terminology leaves something to be desired."

Sidious smiled. "Do you have a better suggestion to more precisely denote their relation to you?"

"Several." She smiled back. "Do all the Naboo use such inefficient terminology to denote their relations?"

Sidious shrugged, suddenly wishing he had chose a different topic of discussion. "I wouldn't know. I can't say I ever paid much attention to such things when I was younger, and now all my family is dead."

"Oh," Talzin said, her eyes widening. "How did that happen?"

He frowned. "I don't wish to discuss it." That was putting it mildly. It was difficult enough trying not to think about it. He'd begun to have nightmares about their deaths, made all the worse because the nightmares were only minor variations on the actual events, and so waking provided no real escape from them.

"All right," Talzin said. She turned to face the viewport, seeming to contemplate the streaks of blue light outside the viewport. Sidious watched her out of the corner of his eye.

After a few minutes, he closed his eyes to nap. He really did need to find out how Plagueis went without sleep before he killed him. Those nightmares were really starting to get to him. He would have to find some pretext to get his Master to explain it to him.

He heard a loud clanking noise to his right. Suddenly alert again, he opened his eyes, and saw Talzin had opened the secret compartment under the control panel and removed his lightsaber, turning it over in her hands.

"Did I say you could rifle through my possessions? How did you find that, anyway?" There wasn't even a visible seam around the compartment.

"I saw you open it the first time I entered your ship."

"Oh." That made sense. He'd brought his saber with him whenever he expected he might encounter any of the native denizens, and he'd stowed the weapon away each time he'd left.

"This is very nice. Where did you get it?" She ignited the saber, moving it in a slow arc.

"From the Sith Saber Store, of course," Sidious said.

"Come now, don't tease me," she laughed.

"I made it," Sidious responded.

"Impressive. A powerful and handsome weapon. Much like its wielder."

Sidious felt a swell of pride at the compliment. "I do like to think I put a lot of myself in the construction."

"It's very impressive."

"Do Nightsisters use sabers?"

"Occasionally." She turned the lightsaber off and handed it to him.

"Do you have one?" he asked casually.

"I do."

"May I see it?"

"Certainly." She pulled a flaming green sword from the air.

"Showoff," he said.

She shrugged. "It is a creation of magic-this is simply the most expedient way to summon it." She held the hilt out to him and he took it, examining it intently.

"Incredible," he said. "Quite detailed for a temporary creation. Truly a work of art." Pulling energy or mass from nothing was possible, but took incredible effort.

Sidious doubted the saber he held truly came from nothing, but the ability to manipulate matter and energy in this way was still no small feat, he judged.

"It really is impressive."

"Thank you," Talzin said.

An idea occurred to Sidious. "Usually I spend most of these trips meditating. But perhaps there is a more worthwhile use we might put this time to."

Talzin tilted her head. "What did you have in mind?"

"Perhaps some sparring, to practice our saber skills?"

She smiled. "That sounds delightful."

He held her saber out to her. Instead of taking it, she dematerialized it and then rematerialized it in her own hand.

"Showoff," he said.

She smiled at him. "I suspect I'm not the only one."

They moved out to the main room in the ship where there was more space to move around and stood across from each other. Talzin held her green saber at a slight angle in front of her. She tilted her head expectantly. "Are you going to draw your saber? Or did you lose it already?"

Sidious smiled and shrugged, his hands empty. "I must have forgotten it."

"That's unfortunate." Talzin said. "For you." She lunged forward.

Sidious waited until she was halfway across the room to draw his saber from his sleeve.

Their blades clashed, the green blade pushing down with considerable force on the red.

"Unfair," Sidious said, tilted backward and smiling up at her. "I was unarmed. There's supposed to be a countdown."

"Lies," Talzin said, amused. "You were obviously not unarmed, Sith Lord, and I gave you more warning than you'd have given me."

"I'll admit, you've got me there," Sidious said. He pushed upwards until he had enough leverage to sidestep the green saber.

Their sabers clashed together again and again in quick succession. Sidious concentrated on evading Talzin. She slashed at him again before he blocked the green blade and then flipped over her in midair. He'd dueled Plagueis, droids, and a large number of (now deceased) sapients, but that had all been in considerably less pleasant circumstances.

Plagueis despised dueling but Sidious had never been able to beat him at it. And the others had mostly been melee fights, pitting Sidious against a large group of foes.

Both were demoralizing-Sidious hated losing to someone who obviously had so little passion for dueling, and being forced to expend so much effort on scores of unskilled opponents had always irked him when he could think of much more satisfying ways to dispose of them.

But this was different. Talzin was clearly enjoying herself, and certainly had had prior training in this regard, though her style was markedly different from anything he'd encountered before.

They paced around each other, two predators testing the other's vigilance, looking for an opening.

"Not bad, but I think I'm going to win," Sidious remarked.

"Really?" Talzin said, slashing her blade sideways at him. He blocked the blow and slipped away to the side, forcing her to overextend to meet his attack. "Care to explain why you have this misconception?"

One corner of the Sith's mouth quirked upward. "If you could beat me with a saber, you wouldn't have needed to cheat the last time we fought."

"Ah, but maybe I just don't like to expend unnecessary effort in performing such tasks." She parried his attack and spun around him. He turned simultaneously to face her.

Sidious clashed abruptly against the side of her blade, forcing it from her hand. The blade clattered to the ground, dissolving on contact.

He held his red blade near her heart. "I win," he said, breathing heavily.

She took a moment to catch her breath before answering. "Yes, it appears you do," she said, smiling.

He turned the saber off. "That was a good duel."

"I agree."

Sidious settled onto an armchair in the corner of the room. Talzin leaned against the wall next to him.

Sidious glanced up at her. He'd been hoping to avoid this for a bit longer, but this was the perfect opportunity to bring it up. It would surely take some time to finalize the details of such a decision, after all, so it was best to get started early. "There is a matter we should discuss."

Talzin raised a single brow on her tattooed face. "Which is?"

"If you will be staying with me, you will need a fake identity and some reason to be doing so."

"Invisibility is not enough?"

Sidious frowned. "That would not work well long-term. No, I have a different suggestion." He hesitated. "Marriage."

"Sure."

Sidious narrowed his eyes. "That was a rather fast agreement."

Talzin shrugged. "I have no objection."

Sidious crossed his arms. "It would be in name only."

"Of course."

"For show only." He frowned.

"Obviously."

His eyes narrowed. "A loveless marriage."

"Understood." Talzin smiled.

Sidious settled back in his chair. "We'll need to come up with some plausible cover story."

Talzin sighed. "Yes. And my Sisters and I will have to hide our Dathomirian origins or the Jedi might take an unwanted interest."

Sidious frowned. "That's true. How do you plan to do that? Those tattoos don't look like they'd be..." he trailed off, watching in surprise as the tattoos seemed to absorb into her face, leaving only light brown skin in their place.

"An illusion?" Sidious asked. "To hide them?"

"No," she said, smiling. "We imprint the patterns into our skin once with magic. Though they are always a part of us, we can hide them as well if the occasion calls for it. We sometimes do this to deceive the Light witches, who would otherwise recognize our nature immediately from the markings. It is a physical change that allows us to manipulate their ability to be seen, just as we can decide to open or close our eyes. They are still there, just not visible."

Sidious was intrigued. "So it's a biological change? Do you manipulate your DNA?"

Talzin frowned. "Yes, it is a biological change. I don't know what DNA is."

"That just makes it even more intriguing," Sidious said. "No wonder Plagueis wanted to-" he stopped.

"Wanted to what?"

"Oh, nothing," Sidious said quickly. "You already know I was there to find information on your use of the Force."

"Yes, but I also am curious about what he was specifically after."

"I suppose it won't do any harm to tell you now. He wanted me to retrieve a 'live Nightsister' to question, with emphasis on the 'live' part. I can only guess he wanted to interrogate one of you about your methods of Force use."

"I see," she said, smiling. "And he thought you'd be able to capture one of us?"

Sidious narrowed his eyes. "Yes, and I have no doubt he was right."

She smiled. "Perhaps so." She looked down at her robes. "I'll need something else to wear for my disguise. Some may be able to recognize my Dathomirian garb."

"That's true. I can find you something on Coruscant. We should also decide where your fake identity will be from."

"Preferably somewhere I've been. Naboo perhaps."

He gave her a dubious look. "You will not be able to pass for a Naboo."

"Why not?"

"Can you speak our language?" he asked in Nabooian.

"What was that?" she asked, her expression perplexed.

"I rest my case," Sidious said, switching back to Basic. "No, you'll have to be from somewhere else. Preferably somewhere that doesn't have a distinct language or uniform cultural attributes you would have been expected to pick up." He put a hand to his chin. "Somewhere like...Coruscant."

"I've never even been there!"

"But you will have been soon," Sidious pointed out. "You'll have a much better chance passing as a Coruscanti citizen than a Naboo. Unless you want to be from somewhere no one's ever heard of like, oh, I don't know, Sriluur?"

She wrinkled her nose. "I don't think so. Coruscant it is, then."

"You Nightsisters seem to have a bit of a Core-sounding accent anyway. I suppose it's from being founded by a rogue Jedi."

"Allya does speak of her life on Coruscant in the Book of Shadows. Her description of it is...not complimentary. I never thought I'd ever want to travel there myself."

"What made you change your mind?"

Talzin was silent a moment, seeming to mull over the question. "You look into the future sometimes, do you not?"

Sidious laughed. "Only all the time! That's what I was doing earlier. But it's usually only helpful to see how my own actions will affect a near-future event. Why?"

"Usually I would agree that the far future is too difficult to see clearly, but in this case, I saw a single outcome."

"What did you see?"

"The death of every Nightsister and Nightbrother. A thousand deaths, a thousand different ways. Sometimes our doom is sealed by Jedi, sometimes by scores of white-armored men. Sometimes we are slaughtered by a four-armed creature too machine to be affected by our magic. And sometimes..." she paused, grimacing. "But you get the idea. In the course of a few decades, sometimes less, I saw us all extinguished. It was clear to me that as much as it was contrary to my instincts, I had to leave Dathomir and confront the root of these threats if I wanted to have any chance of preventing what I saw."

"Oh," Sidious said. "That's unfortunate." He smiled. "But I think I can help you with that. Especially in regards to the Jedi."


	15. Arrivals

A/N: It's been a while! This chapter had several spots I vaciliated on what to do with, but I'm finally ready to post it!

I saw The Last Jedi recently. I won't give any spoilers but it wasn't my favorite Star Wars movie. The porgs have assimilated me, though, and now I want ten of them.

This chapter features Sidious, Talzin, Maul, and Plagueis, among others! The second section here features a scene that's based on a particular part of the Darth Plagueis novel, though of course with quite a different outcome than the original...

* * *

Palpatine felt excitement as the ship touched down on the landing pad. For the first time, he would see Coruscant.

And as this was the private landing pad of Plagueis for his Kaldani Spires suite, it was equipped with a one-way barrier activated on landing to deter prying eyes, whether organic or mechanical. Which meant that he wouldn't have to worry as much about subterfuge even on this planet where cameras and prying eyes were everywhere.

He would be staying in the top suite, the one Plagueis used. Which he hadn't expected-the other Sith had commed him halfway through his trip and made the offer. Sidious had ended up cancelling his previous booking in a political district hotel as a result.

The suite was a considerable upgrade from the expensive hotel he had reserved and it had been offered entirely gratis. It was a much more generous offer than he was used to receiving from Plagueis, who previously would have seen no need to assist his Apprentice with such mundane matters.

But Plagueis had been uncharacteristically interested in Palpatine's well-being of late. His unusual concern over his Apprentice gave Sidious pause when he considered his plans to eliminate the other Sith. Not only that, but he found he enjoyed the approval that radiated from his Master now.

He didn't know what to do. He was beginning to forget his fear of Plagueis, who had neglected his usual acts of casual cruelty. Which should have made it easier to kill him-would have, anyway, if Sidious had been his usual self. Then he would not have felt this conflict within him. Because despite all of his anger for Plagueis, he also-cared for him now. But it seemed neither feeling could manage to negate the other.

Anyway, this proved to him that love was an inherently broken emotion that he had every reason to despise and distrust. But then there were his feelings for Maul. Those, he felt no ambiguity over. Those, he was certainly unwilling to erase. Which made it all the more important that he dispose of Plagueis before the Sith Master found a way to do that!

"Your eyes are doing that thing again," Talzin said, interrupting his thoughts. "That really is a most intense shade of yellow. Is something troubling you?"

He looked over at her as she picked up two of his suitcases. "No," he said. He picked up the last suitcase and extended the landing ramp. Talzin gave him a skeptical look but didn't otherwise respond.

As Sidious stepped out of the ship with Talzin, he tried to put aside his concerns and instead focus on the vista of skyscrapers and Coruscanti traffic before him.

"Ah, Coruscant," Sidious said, smiling brightly and taking in the view of the skyline. "Such a lovely planet."

"Such a dead planet," Talzin said disdainfully.

Sidious gave her a sidelong look, and gestured expansively to the buildings around then. "This is the central hub of the galaxy. This is where everything happens. This is where we must be, if we want alter fate and achieve greatness."

"Maybe so. But Dathomir is the central hub of the galaxy," Talzin said. "Others have simply forgotten this."

Sidious rolled his eyes. "Dathomir is the center of nowhere, home to those with inflated ideas of their own importance."

Talzin smiled serenely. "You mean like Naboo?"

Sidious gave her a small smile. "Yes, I mean exactly like Naboo."

"So humble," she said.

"But aspiring not to be," Sidious replied.

He led her to the elevator, which they took directly into the suite.

"At least there are some signs of life in here," Talzin said, eyeing the assortment of potted plants spread throughout the apartment placed in various places on the floor or hanging along the walls.

"And yet you dislike flowers," Sidious said. He'd remembered her eyeing the floral arrangements in his apartment with utter disdain.

"I dislike slowing dying flowers," she said. She gave him a withering look.

Sidious laughed. "Oh, I see how it is! I suppose I could get some slowly living houseplants instead."

"That would be agreeable," Talzin said.

He looked around at the expansive apartment. Plagueis only used this place occasionally as he was usually found on either Muunilinst or Sojourn. It had a large couch, bookshelves, a bedroom with an absurdly large bed, a study with a desk, and a kitchen. There were also a number of Sith statues and artworks mixed with fairly innocuous works such as a reproduction of the famed Killik Twilight.

"Do you think there's any chance the Jedi will detect either of us when we meet them?" Talzin asked.

"As long as we don't actively use our power in their presence, no," Sidious said. "At least, none of my glimpses of that future meeting show us being detected as long as we don't intentionally reveal ourselves."

"That's good to know," Talzin said. "I would look ahead myself, but my power-does not work well here."

Sidious frowned. "Your overreliance on the Living Force is a weakness."

"It is one of the reasons we do not like to leave Dathomir," Talzin said, running a finger over a leaf on a nearby fern. "I have used my own life force to sustain my power since we left Naboo, but that greatly limits its scope. I cannot pull power from the nonliving as you can."

"No, you could," Sidious said. "If I explained how it was done."

Talzin raised an eyebrow. "And what would you ask in exchange?"

Sidious was silent-he hadn't been thinking of asking anything in return. He tried to think of some suitably selfish rationale.

"It's for my benefit as much as yours," Sidious said finally. "You're here to help protect Maul and at some point, you may need to fight Jedi. For either of those tasks, it would be useful for you to be able to access all of the Force. As such, I do not require anything additional from you."

Talzin smiled. "Then I will gladly take you up on your offer."

"Good," Sidious said. "I can instruct you on the basics of this knowledge before our first meeting with the Jedi. I don't anticipate you will need it then, as we certainly don't want to be broadcasting our abilities in front of them, but it cannot hurt to be prepared."

"I agree," Talzin said.

Sidious heard his comm. Pulling it out of his pocket, he could see that it was his own home residence calling. Raising an eyebrow, he turned on the communicator. A hologram of Dremra appeared, holding Maul.

"Yes?" Sidious said.

"Mama! Pal!" Maul said.

Sidious smiled. "Hello, Maurice."

Talzin looked back at Dremra. "Everything is proceeding smoothly, I hope?"

"Yes, we've successfully settled in. Maul just wanted to see you. And him, I guess." She gestured towards Sidious.

"Oh." Sidious smiled and waved at Maul, and Talzin joined in. Beyond the holoconnection, Sidious could sense the Force bond between himself and Maul. Maul would understand through that bond that he still existed, and that he would return. In turn, he could also sense Maul. Beyond that, it could not be used for communication as yet, but in time that too would be possible.

It was inevitable, he thought, that such a thing would develop between them. He worried a bit about how it might complicate his plans, but he would manage that. Somehow.

He was looking forward to spending more time with Maul once he returned to Naboo. He had much to teach his young Apprentice, even if he couldn't yet instruct him in the ways of the Force.

"Thank you. And his name is Maurice now," Sidious reminded the Nightsister.

Dremra stared at him, holding the small zabrak hybrid in her arms. "Yes," she said. "Maul-Reese. Got it."

Talzin smiled. Sidious sighed. Maul laughed and clapped his tiny hands.

* * *

Plagueis sat through the mediation on Serenno, feeling more than slightly gloomy. Usually, he enjoyed meeting Jedi, testing the limits of their control, looking for weaknesses to exploit and twist down a darker path...

But his plans were in shambles-even thinking about them made him feel ill.  
Still, he had felt he had to try.

But he hadn't spent much time during his trip contemplating ways to turn Jedi. Instead he'd read treatises on cellular biology, commed 11-4D three times to get the current status of his experimental subjects (now at 83% inconsolable sobbing), and commed Sidious to give him updates on his findings. He'd also offered his Apprentice the use of his Kaldani spires suite on learning that he was travelling to Coruscant.

He'd also realized that he'd lost any desire to cure himself of his current predicament. As fascinated as he was with his current experiments regarding the emotional additive, he did not look forward to their conclusion. Still, he couldn't disappoint Sidious by giving up now! Not when his Apprentice was constantly asking about his progress on the antidote. And yet he also couldn't deny that any thoughts of success in this endeavor filled him with feelings of dread.

And so, preoccupied with these other matters, he had arrived at Serenno unprepared to deal with the Jedi. Still, he'd hoped his derision for them might at least distract him from his own self-loathing for long enough to enact this small part of his plan.

But apparently, he'd become his own worst enemy.

He had found himself drawn inexorably to the issue of the hyperwave repeater under mediation. And no matter how much he had tried to hold his tongue, he kept thinking about how many would suffer if the project collapsed. _That is the point!_ He thought, attempting to quell the insistent voice. But to no avail. It seemed he had come all this way only to sabotage his own plans.

"Both parties have legitimate grievances," Jocasta acknowledged to Count Vemec and the Celanon ambassador. "But it is in the best interests of all if a compromise can be reached, is it not?"

"If I may comment?" Plagueis spoke into the sullen silence.

"Certainly," Jocasta said.

"Thank you. This issue can be easily remedied," Plagueis replied. "When Damask Holdings purchased the location of the repeater, we were not aware of the issues that would cause." This was a lie, of course, but Plagueis had no difficulty saying it with a straight face. "The Holonet is a valuable service that should be made available to all," he continued. "Which is why I am offering to move the location." he called up a holographic map, pointing one long finger to the new location. "Here." he looked over at Vemec and the ambassador. "If that works for the two of you?"

Count Vemec and the Celanon ambassador exchanged glances before looking back at him.

"Wait," Count Vemec said, frowning. "If the site is moved there, then Serenno would have to pay the Celanon workers double the previous arrangement due to the increased regulations of the region."

"Not to worry, Count," Plagueis said. "I believe this to be a worthwhile investment, which is why I am offering to change our contract from loan to grant. If that is agreeable to both of you?"

The Celanon ambassador shrugged. "We get paid either way. Now we get paid more. That is most acceptable."

"I have no objection to the new proposal," Count Vemec said.

Jocasta looked surprised. "Are you certain, Magister? I understood Damask Holdings was unwilling to make any concession that would increase operating expenses. Are you saying you've reconsidered that position?"

Plagueis smiled faintly. "That is exactly what I am saying. Damask Holdings will still make a profit, and everyone else gets a better deal."

"I'm happy to hear it, but I just want to verify-are you sure?"

"Yes," Plagueis said. "I must admit with some embarrassment that my initial planning for the project was less than thorough. But I am quite sure my new projections are correct. Your presentation reminded me of the relevant details."

"All right," Jocasta said. She smiled at the Count and the ambassador. "I believe that settles it, then."

As they all filed out of the building, Qui-Gon gave him a dubious look. "I must admit to wondering what your ulterior motive for this unexpected generosity is."

Plagueis smiled. "Your suspicion is understandable," he said. "No one acts to benefit others unless there is some benefit to themselves, right?"

Qui-Gon frowned. "I would not say that all people are selfish, but it is a common motivation, especially for one such as yourself..."

"Qui-Gon, are you pestering Magister Damask?" Jocasta-Nu cut in, walking up to the Jedi from the other side.

"Apologies, Master. I-"

"Of course not!" Plagueis said cheerfully. "We were simply having a friendly conversation. I must say, Master Jedi, you did excellent work on the mediation."

"I wish I felt the same," Jocasta-Nu said. "I do not think those two would have come to an agreement if you hadn't changed your mind."

Plagueis shrugged. "Perhaps, but I must admit, I for one found your statements compelling. You are well-informed on the project."

She smiled. "Thank you. I consider it my duty to be informed on any topic I help mediate for."

"You should get full credit for this success," Plagueis said.

"Ah, Jedi do not require credit for our achievements," Jocasta-Nu said. "Anyway, it was a joint effort."

Plagueis raised a hairless brow, his gaze switching to Qui-Gon. "Do you agree? There were two other Jedi here, were there not? I haven't seen them around since the mediation talks began."

"Master Dooku and Sifo-Dyas were here to lend their voices if needed," Qui-Gon said.

Plagueis smiled. "I suppose they get credit for showing up. If needed."

Of course, Plagueis should have been talking to the two spares. Dooku was a powerful Jedi, and Yoda's former padawan to boot. And he had sensed great dissatisfaction in that one. Plagueis had no need of another Apprentice, and he hardly thought this Jedi could compare to Sidious, but Dooku could probably be recruited informally to do the Sith's dirty work.

And he had sensed fear in Sifo-dyas, fear and doubt. The man had clearly been working to quell it, but Plagueis knew that something about this mediation had brought old anxieties to the surface of the Jedi Master.

Neither of the two he talked with now emanated the same anger or anxiety, nor did he know as much about them. And neither was as powerful as Dooku certainly. Still, he lingered in their presence, determined to discover what he could about them.

"I must wonder Master Jocasta-Nu, do you travel often to the Outer Rim?" Plagueis asked. "You seem unusually well-informed on it."

"No," she replied. "But I work part time in the Jedi Archives."

That caught the interest of the Sith Lord. "The great Jedi library! I've always wanted a tour of it." What he wouldn't give to know more about that place. Plagueis had often coveted the knowledge stored there, both Jedi and Sith. He had acquired every piece of data he could on the archives, legal or not, but none of that could compare with what a Jedi could tell him about the place.

Jocasta smiled. "It's a popular tourist attraction. We don't normally give guided tours, and the locations non-Jedi are allowed are very limited. But if you drop by during my hours I could show you some of the points of interest. "

"You can be sure I will make time to do that," Plagueis said, already making plans for the questions he would be asking about the 'off-limits' areas.

"Glad to hear it. In truth, I plan to take up full time management of the library soon. Our current head librarian is retiring."

A librarian! And the future head of the Jedi Archives no less. This was better than Dooku. Much better.

He turned to Qui-Gon. "Do you work in the archives as well?"

The Jedi Knight shook his head. "No," he said.

Jocasta chuckled. "But he does occasionally sleep there."

"It's not sleeping-it's meditating," Qui-Gon said, his tone mock-defensive. He smiled briefly.

"I've never seen meditation involve so much snoring," Jocasta quipped.

"You are researching something?" Plagueis asked Qui-Gon.

"Yes," Qui-Gon said. "It's a Jedi matter. About the ancient Journal of the Whills."

"Is it confidential? I understand you cannot divulge Jedi business to an outsider such as myself. And this sounds like it must involve a task of some importance to the Order." He was fishing for any small detail the Jedi might divulge in his response.

Qui-Gon shrugged. "I wouldn't say that. To be honest, most the Jedi don't even believe in it anymore. My former Master tells me it's a fool's errand."

Not the response he was expecting. Time to follow up. "Really? And what is this 'fool's errand'?"

He worried then-had his question been too bold? He felt he had practically demanded the answer.

But neither Jedi seemed alarmed by his query.

"The quest for immortality," Qui-Gon answered. "The ability to live-beyond death."

 _And why would a Jedi be after that?_ the Sith Lord wondered. A whole list of questions presented itself to him, and he vowed that he would do whatever needed to be done to find the answers. Plagueis decided he'd definitely chosen the two more interesting Jedi to talk with.

Perhaps this trip hadn't been a waste of time after all.


	16. Chiaroscuro

Thanks to everyone who commented since I last posted! I really appreciate it!

I put the rest of the comments at the end of the chapter.

* * *

Sidious sat patiently at his seat in the outdoor cafe. He'd strategically chosen a table which looked out on a less than picturesque corner of Coruscant which gave him the space he sought between himself and the other patrons.

Talzin had, of course, insisted on coming along. They were married now, a quick elopement performed by an efficient, if not especially attentive, Coruscant official. The Trandoshan had congratulated them on their marriage and wished them many happy hatchlings.

"Are they always this late, do you think?" Talzin asked. She sat to his right, wearing a green dress in a popular Coruscanti style, and hiding her characteristic Nightsister tattoos. Her mahogany hair was pulled back into a simple braid.

Sidious took a sip of his glass of water and frowned. "I wouldn't have thought so." He found the tardiness of the Jedi somewhat concerning at this point. His recent visions had all indicated a certain pair of Jedi arriving-on time. And while it was true that the future was always in flux, such a divergence from an event he had so consistently foreseen as recently as this morning concerned him.

Talzin placed a hand over his. "I'm sure they'll turn up shortly."

"You're right, of course," Sidious said, smiling. They couldn't speak in more detail to each other here, but Sidious had already discussed his expectations for this meeting with her extensively.

 _But if the Jedi take any longer, this could get very awkward,_ he thought. Sidious hated to think that such a minor thing might throw off his plans so thoroughly, but in this case, it very well could. He had to admit, he was worried.

He turned his head casually towards a nondescript building in the distance. He had done so five times in the past ten minutes. He wondered how long he would have to endure this charade.

Earlier, he had tried to teach Talzin how to use the Unified Force. She had not yet picked up the ability, but Palpatine was confident she would learn it in time. He'd also asked if she was sure she wanted to attend this meeting, to which she smiled and asked him if he was worried about her. He had replied that it would interfere with his plans if she died.

Then the two Jedi finally appeared. He noticed them almost as soon as they came into his sights. They were disguised, as he had requested, though he worried they were still too obvious.

He squinted. One of them was a neti-the same species as the Sith librarian Dail'liss, a favorite historical figure of Plagueis's. Sidious knew they were a plant species with moderate shapeshifting abilities.

This neti had somewhat approximated human form, though perhaps that was exaggerating the resemblance. No clothes, of course, since there was nothing which needed concealing or protection from the elements. Perhaps twice as tall as Plagueis, the neti had two long, thick stilt-like legs, a short 'abdomen' and a vaguely humanoid 'face' surrounded by a tangle of branches with bright green foliage. Sidious found the diagonal their eyes made across their face slightly offputting. Also there was the disconcerting lack of any sort of arms or hands. _The business-casual morph, perhaps?_ Sidious mused. The neti wore A Very Serious Look.

The other Jedi was a human teenager who, for whatever reason, was bald. He was dressed in clothing vaguely resembling that of a university student and wore a satchel on his back, though his posture was far too stiff for any normal teenager. He also wore A Very Serious Look.

Palpatine stifled his annoyance at how incredibly obvious they were being and gave them both warm smiles as they approached. At least neither of them wore robes or visible lightsabers. He'd have to hope it was enough. The Jedi he'd seen in his vision had seemed more prepared for this. He wondered again what had happened, though of course he couldn't ask.

"Ambassador Palpatine of Naboo," the teen said, his voice as serious as his expression. "You asked to meet with us."

Palpatine made a show of widening his eyes. "Oh! Please, have a seat." He gestured to the chairs across from himself and Talzin. "This is Kycina. We've recently married."

"Ah," the neti said. "Congratulations. My name is T'ra."

"And I am Mace," the human teen said.

"A pleasure to meet you," Talzin said, smiling politely.

"I apologize for taking up your valuable time," Sidious said, looking between the two Jedi. "And for requesting such subterfuge. But I believe it to be a prudent precaution, given the situation."

"Understood. What is your concern?" T'ra asked, eyes wide. A bird landed on one of the neti's branches. No move was made to dislodge it.

"I have been looking into a tragedy which has befallen our unfortunate Senator, Vidar Kim-" Sidious said, leaning forward at a very particular angle.

And that was when it happened.

In mere moments it was over, but Sidious had observed everything that had taken place, both through his normal senses and through the Force. Sidious had made a show of pulling Talzin and himself down as the laserbolt rang out-a bolt which came from the same nondescript building he had been casually gazing at earlier.

Mace pulled out a purple lightsaber and deflected the bolt. T'ra stood and ignited a long, green lightsaber with one of the branches extending from their head. Several more shots rang out which were deflected by both Mace and T'ra.

There were screams from the other patrons of the cafe, and Palpatine rearranged his features into a suitably shocked expression, though in this case he actually had been surprised-but by Mace, not the attack.

"What-what just happened?!" Palpatine exclaimed.

Mace grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his seat, while T'ra ushered Talzin out of hers by snaking a branch around her arm.

"It looks like you were right to be cautious," Mace said, his eyes on the building the laserbolts originated from as he pulled Palpatine from the cafe. "Someone was watching you. Looks like they don't want anyone to hear what you have to say. Don't worry, we'll get you to safety. Then you can tell us everything."

Palpatine gave him a bewildered look, and again it was easy in this case to channel his real feelings into the expression. But it wasn't from the assassin's attack, which had gone exactly as he'd planned, but rather because he'd just witnessed this Jedi use some bizarre and broken form of Juyo to deflect the bolts.

He'd also felt the undercurrent of the Dark Side from him, which had just as suddenly vanished once he'd begun pulling Palpatine away.

Just what kind of Jedi _was_ Mace, anyway?

* * *

"I-I never imagined there would be assassins involved!" Sidious said. "I just didn't want some reporter making it obvious I'd gone to the Jedi!"

"We believe there was only one assassin," Mace said.

"Only?!" Sidious said, scowling. "Someone could have died!"

"I believe that was their intention," Mace said, his face expressionless.  
"But we've already dispatched another Jedi to seek them out."

"Yes, you are safe now," T'ra said gently. "We can help you, but you must tell us what you know." The neti gestured to an armchair behind him. "Please, have a seat." They'd taken him and Talzin directly to the Jedi Temple. T'ra was right. There was no way his hired assassin would attack him in here, even without another Jedi searching for him. This place was like a fortress.

"Sorry," Sidious said, settling into the cushioned seat. "This has just been overwhelming for me. I was so worried for Kycina."

"I'm fine, dear," Talzin said. "I was worried for you! I'm no one important-they were clearly after you!"

"I suppose," Sidious said. "But I never thought anyone would-"

"You should tell the Jedi why you're here," Talzin said firmly.

"Hmmm, yes, you're right," Sidious said. He craned his neck up at T'ra's lopsided features, then turned to Mace. "Perhaps you've heard of the tragedy that befell Senator Kim recently?"

"I'm afraid not," Mace said.

"His entire family died in a speeder accident," Sidious explained.

"I saw something about that," T'ra's deep voice said from somewhere far above the seated Palpatine's head. "It's very unfortunate."

"Yes, and it's why I'm here," Sidious said. "Vidar believes that foul play was involved. I thought perhaps that he was mistaken, but it seems I was the one who misjudged the situation. I was going to ask you to investigate simply to help placate his concerns, but it now seems they are quite real."  
Sidious gave Mace a concerned look.

"Not to worry," Mace said. "We'll definitely look into it now. In fact, we'd like to escort you back to Naboo, where we will search for the culprit of this attack."

"Oh, thank you. I'm sure we don't need an escort, though-"

"We insist," T'ra said.

Mace nodded. "It's for your safety. Both of you."

"All right," Sidious said. He had brought his ship out to a public landing pad near the cafe they'd been to before meeting with the Jedi in anticipation of this.

So far, despite the fact that the Jedi had been late and not the ones he had foreseen, everything had gone roughly as expected. The Jedi had not suspected anything of him or Talzin, and he had successfully gained their continued attention with the assassination stunt.

Now he would have a chance to learn more about these Jedi, and more about their Order as well. He was especially interested in Mace, though he did not have any way to directly ask the questions that burned foremost in his mind about that one.

Of course, unfortunately for the Jedi, they were doomed to failure in bringing the murderers of Vidar's kin to justice.

Fortunately for Vidar, a Sith Lord would be doing that instead.

* * *

I had a lot of fun with this chapter!

I've referenced some EU characters here, such as Dail'liss, T'ra Saa, and Kycina. I've also made various changes for the purposes of my story, which I'll discuss a bit here.

Kycina and Talzin appear to be completely separate characters in the old EU. They were also both Maul's mother, so...for this AU, I merged them into one character: Kycina Talzin. So yes, she is using her real first name here-I plan go into this some more later in the story, to explain why she's not worried about hiding that.

Also for the purposes of this AU, the neti do not have a concept of gender. I gave them leaves as well. Additionally, I did some redesign of T'ra Saa. I wanted the character to look less human since they're, you know, a tree. Incidentally, I really, really love the idea of Space Ents!

Sidious has gotten the attention of the Jedi now, and he intends to learn as much as he can about them. And especially about Mace. He's going to have to be creative about his lines of inquiry, though!


	17. The Unexpected

Thanks to everyone who commented on the last chapter!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

* * *

Plagueis had decided to take a detour to the Jedi Archives on his way back from Serenno. It was a shame, he thought, that Palpatine had already left Coruscant by this point. Still, he looked forward to the personal tour of the Jedi Archives he'd been offered. While there were a number of things he knew he should be prioritizing instead, this had been a truly irresistible opportunity that he didn't want to miss. Tonight, he would stay at his now-empty suite in Kaldani Spires, in anticipation of his trip to the Archives.

Though none of that was explanation for his presence here. No, he had a very different purpose in mind this time.

He was mere kilometers from the Jedi Temple, which in more normal circumstances might have meant that he had come to view the Temple itself, perhaps to internally gloat about the eventual demise of its occupants. But there was no view of the Temple here, or indeed any of the sights of Coruscant that any sightseer would have an interest in.

Not when he was several miles beneath the level the Temple resided in.

The Crimson Corridor was pitch black at this time of afternoon. Which suited Plagueis just fine. He had no trouble navigating the area without light, and knew it would draw less attention to him to do so. The Force allowed him to sense everything in the Corridor as easily as if the area was bathed in full sunlight.

Easier, actually, since there were things he could sense through the Force that might otherwise pass unseen, such as the miniscule pinpricks of insect, animal, and fungal life residing around him, hiding under discarded boxes or in rubbish heaps, or within the very walls around him.

But that was not what he was here for. He turned a corner and finally reached his destination.

This area of the Corridor was occupied by a number of impoverished individuals. Plagueis counted 53 of them, which seemed to him an inconsequential number. Coruscant had billions of these indigents.

He put that last thought out of his mind. He knew his purpose here.

Plagueis turned on his penlight, which got an immediate response.

The inhabitants of the area swarmed him instantly, requesting, pleading, or demanding food or credits.

"Hmmm, I have don't have either of those things on me," Plagueis said. "But I do have something else that may interest you."

"And what's that?" a rodian woman in rags asked.

"Yes, what is it?" a grimy togruta man echoed. Other voices murmured similar questions. He saw a few aqualish, a bothan, a couple duros, a chagrian, a few gran, and an ithorian, among others.

"Free real estate," Plagueis replied.

After that night, Kaldani Spires had a sudden uptick in tenancy. The new tenants appeared to especially appreciate the additional features of their homes, which included free furniture, clothing, Holonet, and 24- hour meal-service.

After Plagueis had explained the conditions of their tenancy (a free lifetime lease and free access to every absurdly lavish service available in Kaldani Spires), he had them all sign their leases. This went quickly, for the most part, and soon he had reached the last new tenant.

The togruta smiled cheerfully and shook his hand. "I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you, Mr. Damask."

"Ah, just Hego, please. And that won't be necessary. You owe me nothing. Let us just finish the appropriate paperwork, shall we," Plagueis said, settling down into a plush chair at the silvery circular table in the dining room.

"Of course," the togruta man said. They sat down across from each other and Plagueis handed him a stack of flimsiplast documents.

As the togruta took a pen to sign them, he remarked, "I wish my sister was here to see this."

"Your sister?" Plagueis asked.

"Yes. She disappeared years ago, along with her ship the Woebegone and all her crew," he remarked. "I was only ten."

"Ah. I see," Plagueis said mildly, though his internal dialogue had filled with a single, continuous shriek. This was not happening. It couldn't be. The odds of this happening were truly astronomical. Perfectly preserved, an image flashed through his mind of Lah's expression of shock as he stabbed her through her heart on the Woebegone, her brown eyes desperate, her montrals swinging back as she fell forward to the ground. He noticed then that Eolin had the same brown eyes, though his montral stripes were much more jagged and irregular than Captain Lah's had been.

The togruta frowned, his forehead furrowed in concern. "Are you-alright?"

Plagueis started and placed a hand on his chest in surprise. "Me? Oh, I'm fine. Perfectly fine. It's just-that's terrible."

"It's alright," Eolin said. "It was a long time ago. I know she's never coming back. I know she's dead. I wish I knew what happened to her, but maybe...maybe there are some things we aren't meant to know."

"No," Plagueis said abruptly. "Nothing is unknowable!"

Eolin gave him a surprised look.

"Er, I mean, there must be some explanation," Plagueis said. Get a grip, you utter fool , a voice that sounded very much like himself hissed angrily in his head. _Try not to expose yourself!_ Then a newer voice, the voice that sounded like a twisted funhouse version of himself, chimed in. _Don't tell him that! You'll traumatize him!_

At least this made his decision much simpler. "But you're right, it might not be so easy to find." Or to hear.

He talked with Eolin a bit more as they finished the paperwork, though he still felt shaken by the unexpected revelation.

Afterwards, he headed into to the elevator towards his suite, ruminating on the day's events. Staring at the curved, polished chrome doors, he felt...uncertain. Uncertain whether he had accomplished his objective.

Finally, the doors opened and Plagueis entered his suite, glancing at the plants to his left and right. Then he went to sit on the sofa and called up the holoscreen to access the information on the current revenue for Damask Holdings.

Everything was as expected. He grimaced. Everything except himself. Because he knew where that money came from.

It hadn't worked. His attempt to manipulate his own emotional state with some miniscule good deed had failed utterly. Was it because Eolin Lah's unexpected appearance had unsettled him?

No, that wasn't it. He had been surprised by that, still was, in fact. But the failure was due to his own awareness. It was clear now that his token act of kindness would not allow him to ignore or overlook the enormous cruelty he had built his shadow empire upon.

Damask Holdings, despite being run by a Sith Lord, was a mostly legal enterprise. Hego ran his business in much the way his late father Caar had, not seeing any reason to deviate from an already working formula.

His investments, to be sure, had a slightly different track. Hego emphasized investments in biomedical research and pharmaceutical companies whereas his father had emphasized tech. But he, like his father, frequently voted on the boards of those companies to raise prices on goods, especially common necessities, and decrease the pay of employees. Unlike his father, this specifically had been a motivation for working in what he considered to be a less interesting field. Though he rarely had opportunity to directly observe the extra suffering caused by his actions, he nevertheless knew it was there, and that fact alone had given him some measure of satisfaction.

While he took great pains to avoid saying anything publicly that might admit to his malicious intent, he had often impressed on Palpatine the value of such actions. A Sith Warrior of old only harmed, for the most part, those they directly cut down, whereas he could achieve suffering on scales such a being could have barely imagined.

Except that now that suffering was eating away at him, too.

He placed his head into his hands. What was he to do?

* * *

Sidious sat next to Talzin, across from the two Jedi at the dining table in his apartment. There was a pot of shuura tea in the middle of the table.

"The tea is excellent," Mace said.

"Agreed," said T'raa, daintily slurping at it with two fingers they'd created from their rootstock.

"Thank you," Sidious said. He felt a great disappointment at himself. Though he loathed everything these Jedi stood for, he couldn't quite bring himself to want to kill either of these two.

And that was a problem.

His desire to destroy the Jedi gave him purpose, and a tangible marker of his ultimate goals. Certainly he hadn't planned for it to happen today, or tomorrow, or even ten years down the line. But to not even feel the desire to ruminate on how he would ultimately bring about their grisly deaths? It sickened him.

He had thought that perhaps familiarity would help to induce contempt, but asking them inane questions during the trip back to Naboo had, if anything, backfired, and even seemed to have created in him a sort of nauseating fondness for the two.

How was he going to fix this?

"However, we require more information from you to investigate this matter fully," Mace said.

Sidious wished there was some way to ask the Jedi about his Dark Side use back on Coruscant, but as of yet he had found no way to subtly prompt Mace to speak of it. He also wondered how these Jedi had ended up on this case when his attempts at foreseeing the future before meeting with the Jedi had at no point produced this particular pair. But he couldn't directly ask that question, either.

"I would have thought that you have everything you need already," Talzin said. "Palpatine has told you everything he knows about the situation."

"Everything he _thinks_ he knows, perhaps," Mace said.

"What do you mean by that?" Palpatine asked.

"I sense that you will be pivotal to this investigation," Mace said. He looked up at Talzin then, too, meeting her gaze. "And you as well."

Talzin laughed. "Me? But I know nearly nothing of this matter. This is the first time I have even been on Naboo. What do you think?" Talzin asked T'raa.

"Knight Windu can sense shatterpoints," T'raa said. "I trust his judgment in this."

Sidious smiled, exerting effort to make his expression seem vaguely curious, even as he internally generated a large variety of Sith invective. Now he was certain he knew why these two had ended up supplanting the Jedi he'd seen in his vision. "A Shutterpoint? What's that?"

"Shatterpoint," Mace corrected.

Sidious chuckled. "Apologies. I'm not familiar with your Jedi terminology." He leaned forward slightly, clasping his hands on his teacup. "Please do explain."

"It's to do with the Jedi ability of foresight," Mace said.

"Do you mean to say that the Jedi possess the ability to predict the future? So you can look ahead and, oh, see if you're going to find evidence against Bon Tapalo, for example?" Sidious stirred his tea, then tapped the silver spoon lightly against the edge of his filigreed red and gold cup.

"How useful!" Talzin said. "So if you foresaw how you solved a problem after much effort, then you could solve it right away without any dead ends."

"It's not that simple as either of those things," Mace said. "Yoda teaches us that-"

"Yoda? You've met Yoda?" Sidious said, modulating his voice to an awed whisper. He placed his spoon back into the teacup and brought up a spoonful of the steaming liquid. "I thought he was just, that is, I didn't know he was _real_."

A corner of Mace's mouth quirked up. "You're not the only one who's said that."

"I can imagine!" Sidious said. "So what were you saying about, ah, Shinglepoints?"

"Shatterpoints," Mace corrected again. "As I was about to say earlier, the future is constantly in flux. This can make it difficult to know what details to focus on, and we cannot control what the Force chooses to show us."

Sidious would quickly lose patience if his foretelling ability had required watching snippets of a future where he was only a passive observer, like someone who was forced to watch only the Holonet shows chosen by someone else.

"That's unfortunate," Sidious said, sipping his tea.

"Perhaps, but my ability to detect shatterpoints allows me to mitigate this disadvantage somewhat. Because the important details stand in relief to me in a way that's not clear to others. A Shatterpoint can be a location, an object, or even an event, but more commonly, a person is a Shatterpoint."

"I'm still not quite sure I understand what a-Shatterpoint is," Sidious said.

"It's a point in time along which an event hinges," Mace replied.

Mace had just repeated what the Sith knew as the standard definition for a shatterpoint, a definition that had always annoyed him.

"Along? Apologies, perhaps Jedi use these terms differently than the general public. But wouldn't that be upon?" Sidious asked. "I wouldn't think that a point would possess length with which to move along."

"A point in time becomes a line across time," Mace explained.

Sidious widened his eyes. "Ooooohhhh, I see." Now he was doubly annoyed, because this barely-adult Jedi had just explained in less than ten words why _he_ had been the one who was wrong. Maybe if Plagueis had ever lectured about something besides _midichlorians_ he would know these things.

But more importantly, this complicated matters considerably. The talent to sense shatterpoints was something above and beyond mere precognition, and there was no way for Sidious to obscure it.

And Mace had just identified both Sidious and Talzin as shatterpoints.

It was in that moment, that Sidious heard a sound, like static, or the crackle of electricity. He turned to face Talzin, seeing her turn to gaze down at him at the same time, before realizing the sound wasn't coming from a physical source, but rather from directly _inside_ his head.

Even worse, feelings he had previously dismissed were surfacing as well, and apparently determined to be even more distracting than the internal sound effects they accompanied. The idea that such feelings might make his marriage to Talzin something other than the complete sham it was intended to be greatly irritated him.

 _What an inconvenient time to be forming a Force Bond._

* * *

Talzin was watching the Jedi closely, though they did not have have her full attention.

She heard a sound, like dead leaves being crushed underfoot, mixed with the droning of insects.

She turned towards Sidious, who had turned to face her as well, his expression puzzled, then irritated, but relaxing quickly into a cordial smile.

Talzin knew this last expression to be a mask for the benefit of the Jedi, but she did think it one that made him look particularly handsome.

Of course she knew what was occurring. She didn't think the Jedi could detect such a thing directly, but their behavior might cause great suspicion if they didn't maintain proper control.

She also wasn't sure how she felt about such a thing. Despite the steps she had taken to secure this alliance, and regardless of the Sith Apprentice's attractiveness, she wasn't sure if she was prepared to have such a connection to him.

A Force Bond could be incredibly useful, but it also opened one up to the other person in ways that could be...dangerous. On the other hand, Talzin would not have entered into this situation if she hadn't been in the habit of courting danger, in this case perhaps quite literally.

Palpatine rested a hand on her hand under the table, slowly brushing his delicate fingers from her wrist to the tips of her pointed fingernails.

It was quite intriguing, but also exceedingly distracting.

"We will need a way to get close to King Tapalo to investigate," Mace said.

Talzin's attention switched back to the Jedi. "How can we help?" She moved her hand out from under Sidious's and grabbed it, holding it firmly.

Sidious seemed to get her message, though there seemed to be more tension in his frame than before.

"We assume that Ambassador Palpatine will know how we could gain an audience with the King," T'raa said.

"Yes," Palpatine said. "He is very interested in financial opportunities. If you claimed to be part of some corporation willing to make an offer double the current for Naboo's plasma, he would almost certainly be willing to hear you out."

Though Talzin had no idea what the term plasma referred to, she understood the direction of Palpatine's intent, to have the Jedi convince the King of this planet that they had something valuable to offer in exchange for his own resources.

Naboo was apparently a despotic planet where great power over all aspects of life was bestowed to this single individual, rather than being run through a more distributed system as the Nightsisters were, where anyone could join the political councils and deliberate or vote on decisions. Not that she cared about Naboo.

Not at all.

Maybe a little.

"Do you know how we could best pull off such a deception?" Mace asked.

"I know he is meeting with a few of the major Mid-Rim companies soon," Sidious answered. "If you could delay the real delegates, you could take their place. I can give you his schedule."

"Excellent," T'raa said. They smiled with their barklike mouth. "Yes, that's a good plan."

The two Jedi soon finished their tea, making small talk with Palpatine and Talzin and showing no intention of leaving.

Though Palpatine had said nothing of the sort, she sensed he was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the Jedis' presence. Possibly he had not yet determined a polite end to their conversation. Naboo seemed to have many rules of that kind.

Fortunately, she wasn't from Naboo.

Using the information she had gleaned from the holostories she had watched during their trip illustrating marriage conventions from Coruscant, she stood and lifted Palpatine out of his chair and held him horizontally between her arms. He was quite heavier than he appeared, likely due to muscle hidden beneath his extensive clothing, but still certainly within the means of her physical strength to carry.

His startled expression quickly changed to a jovial smile. "Oh, there you go again, sweeping me off my feet!" Palpatine said, laughing.

Talzin looked apologetically at the two Jedi. "We never really got to enjoy our honeymoon. I know it would be unsafe to travel now, as we planned to, but perhaps we could have some-time alone?"

The two Jedi looked at each other, then back to her. "Of course," they both said at the same time. They both gave Palpatine and Talzin their thanks and promised to stay in touch. Then they politely filed out the door.

Talzin and Palpatine waited silently, unmoving, for several minutes. Eventually, Talzin could no longer sense the presence of the Jedi nearby.

"Finally," Palpatine breathed. "I thought they'd never leave." He made no attempt to escape from her arms, though, and as a result she made no attempt to release him.

Atherion and Dremra appeared in the adjacent living room, Atherion having secured Maul in a harness over her abdomen and holding one one arm around him. It had taken some convincing to get Palpatine to agree to their presence during this meeting, but Talzin had been very insistent, and eventually he had conceded that they might add some useful perspective.

Dremra crossed her arms. "Jedi seem like pushovers."

[We should not underestimate them. I sensed great power in both of the Jedi, but especially the human.] She looked over at Talzin. [But at the moment, I just want to know what you plan to do about the connection forming between you and Palpatine.] Atherion signed while Maul watched her hands with interest. Dremra's eyes widened.

[What?] the red zabrak warrior signed back, her expression vaguely horrified.

Talzin shrugged her shoulders. "There does seem to be a Force Bond forming between us. That is...obviously an issue the two of us must decide upon." A spontaneous Force Bond did not have to be accepted. It could be delayed or quelled by either party, but only established by mutual agreement. But it was not a decision to make lightly for mere convenience.

"I mean surely you're going to…" Drema made a snipping gesture with one hand.

"That will be up for discussion, but not in front of you two," Palpatine said. His eyes narrowed. "Now get lost."

He seemed to consider something, his eyes glancing over at Maul. "That is, thank you for taking care of Maurice. You can leave him here while you take a...well-deserved break." His tone indicated he did not consider the suggestion optional.

Dremra and Atherion looked over at Talzin.

She sighed. "Yes, it would be best if we discussed this between ourselves."

Dremra signed the responses to Atherion, before both gave her a dubious look. Talzin turned her gaze down to Sidious.

"Still, as much as I want to catch up with prickly pear, it might be more efficient if we discussed this alone," Talzin said.

Sidious frowned. "We have discussed many things efficiently with Maurice present. It might be best if we are not entirely alone."

Dremra smiled brightly. "I agree! Atherion and I should just hang out here too while you work this out!"

"Changed my mind," he said quickly. "I'll concede your point, Talzin, if it means you can get these two _to leave_."

"Would you mind taking prickly pear to get some fresh air?" she asked.

Dremra gave her a frown of disapproval, but nodded assent and repeated the request to Atherion.

[Are you sure?], Atherion signed, frowning. Talzin nodded.

[It is as good a time as any to start teaching Maul about trees, I suppose.] Atherion signed.

Dremra and a horizontal Palpatine seemed to engage in a momentary glaring contest.

"Yeah, I know just the place," Dremra said. "The little guy will love it. Just let us know when you're done with-him." Her hard brown eyes gazed towards Sidious before she signed briefly to Atherion.

"Certainly," Talzin said.

As the two of them filed out the door, Atherion turned to face them and smiled cheerily, looking down at Maul before waving at the two.

Maul noticed and copied her movements, also smiling and saying "trees!" in his tiny voice.

Then, for a brief moment, she made a snipping motion with her fingers before closing the door behind Dremra and herself.

Talzin smiled. _Your votes are duly noted._

However, the final say on this matter would have to be decided between herself and Palpatine.

* * *

Sorry this took a while! My updates are just unpredictable like that!

In case there's anyone reading this who hasn't read the Darth Plagueis novel, this chapter refers to a character who appears briefly in that story, Captain Ellin Lah of the Woebegone. Eolin Lah is my OC, who ends up impoverished because he was a child when his sister died. I also reference Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter here with the mention of the Crimson Corridor.


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